


The First

by Batphace



Category: The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
Genre: 69 (Sex Position), Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Come Eating, Dirty Talk, M/M, Oral Sex, Post-Chronicles of Riddick, Rimming, also in the same story, gets real dirty in the best way, in the same story, riddick topping and bottoming, slowish burn, spoilersdamevaakodies/thoughti'dgetthatoutthere, vaako bottoming and topping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 11:22:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17724230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Batphace/pseuds/Batphace
Summary: Vaako has had enough of the new Lord Marshal's wallowing, but what comes to be in the following days is something neither man could've predicted.





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> Commission for my PFF K.  
> This is an alternate spin on the events DIRECTLY AFTER THE MOVIE, and takes no account of the newer movie, although I've had one in mind for that too. I'll be posting some of my old ffnet Riddick work here too I think, but it might be a while.

It had been eight cycles since Lord Marshal Riddick had turned his back on his newly won legion and the man had yet to issue more than a few orders, the only one of which pertained to said legion was the order to leave Helion Prime. He'd sent the shell of the newly converted woman-child back to the planet, along with a fortune in credits to both bury her and help with 'reconstruction'. Not a single communication had followed, and the soldiers were getting edgy; hence the need for the First Among Commanders to meet with the new Lord Marshal. Vaako hadn't been summoned, but he would be seen.

Of course, Dame Vaako had her own agenda when she'd 'sent' her husband out to the Lord Marshal's Sanctum - a suite of rooms dedicated solely for the Lord Marshal's use-, as though it had been her plan all along. Yzma wanted him to get close, gain the Lord Marshal's trust, and then keep what he killed when he assassinated the man, preferably in a grand and very public way. Lord Marshal Riddick had not called for his execution yet, and Yzma took that as a sign that he, and by extension she, was still necessary and therefore still had a chance to take the position for himself. Vaako didn't truly know what to make of the man's silence, but it ended now.

Vaako himself had no desire to be Lord Marshal, only wanted a strong, solid leader for the Faith, but Dame Vaako would not accept his lack of ambition. Period. He knew Yzma used his love for the Faith against him, played him with it, but so often her points were valid that it was impossible to ignore them and so he did her bidding not for her, but for the Faith. That a non-Necromonger, an unconverted, impure human - _Furyan,_ no less- was now sitting in the highest position in their empire... it was unimaginable. Unthinkable. And yet, here they were. Vaako ground his teeth as he made his way along the corridors.

He was always, first and foremost, a Necromonger Commander, First Among even, and sometimes his wife forgot her place; that she had no place without Vaako. Yzma, herself, was without title, and had risen through Necromonger nobility relying on their most important tenet; you keep what you kill. She'd caught his eye at some ball or other, and the hook had been set. Yzma was beautiful, and lusty, and power hungry. She saw Vaako's potential even before he had.

There had never been love, not even close. Dame Vaako was libidinous enough for the both of them, and their sex was adequate if not amazing, not _satisfying._ Vaako never felt that bone deep quenching of that _need_. He'd chalked it up to his overwhelming warrior spirit not needing such things and ascended the ranks instead. She had pushed him as far as he'd gotten, but he was happy as First Among Commanders, and she was not willing to settle for anything less than perfection; Lady Vaako, Wife to the Lord Marshal.

Yzma had changed more even since his failure to kill Zhylaw; become more volatile, more unbalanced and power crazed than ever before. Of course, if she thought for one second that she had a chance to bed the new Lord Marshal, she'd murder her husband without qualm, -by proxy assassination, of course, mustn't dirty her own hands- because First Consort to the Lord Marshal was a much higher title than Dame.

Vaako had miscalculated when he'd gone for the kill of the former Lord Marshal. He hadn't counted on the speed of the man's astral self, and instead of taking the unwanted title for himself, he'd unwittingly given it to the unconverted criminal whom he'd thought dead on that hellish planet. He should never have underestimated Riddick, and that was on him. Vaako had allowed his own arrogance to blind him to the extent of the threat the man presented, having not understood his significance at the time. Of course, it wasn't as though the man had made it back to the Basilica on his own.

Vaako ground his teeth at the thought that the Purifier had helped the man escape Crematoria. It was the only explanation; they were the only two left behind, and the Purifier hadn't ever given Vaako his reason for being there at all. He'd assumed he was there to bear witness, or perhaps to babysit him on the Lord Marshal's orders. Though, perhaps he'd had his own reasons, as well.

The Purifier had always been a mystery to Vaako, but he'd seemed dedicated to the Faith and honorable enough, more so than the betrayal of his entire race would indicate. Although, if the rumors were true, the Purifier had been Furyian, same as their new Lord Marshal, and so had only betrayed the Necromongers. Vaako could respect resilience; retaining loyalty to one's true race through conversion, multiple Purifyings, and becoming what was essentially the high priest of Necorism, was a feat worthy of his regard.

He had a grudging respect -more than that, but he refused to acknowledge anything more- for the man known as Riddick, now Lord Marshal Riddick, as well. Really it had started from the very moment they'd met on Helion Prime; when Riddick had stood among the cowering masses and demanded a chance to fight Irgun. Vaako had expected to watch the arrogant warrior to be shown a lesson and die a dishonorable death, but he'd been surprised, or maybe not so surprised really, when in a few swift moves, not more than a handful of seconds, Irgun lay dead and the man was ready to walk away.

The electricity between them as Riddick had declared that he bowed to no man had sent bolts of lightning up and down Vaako's spine, and the burn in his belly and groin had confused him. A burn of another sort confused him further when his wife had stepped in and laid hands on the man. He'd shaken it off, but had always been... bothered by it, since none of these things had _ever_ happened to him before. The man had elicited more reaction from Vaako in a few short moments than _anyone_ ever had, in battle or in sex. From that point on they'd almost felt like planets circling the same sun, drawn by a greater gravity and destined to collide.

Vaako had read up on Richard B. Riddick on his way to dispatch the man on Crematoria. There wasn't much information to be found on his formative years, but what little there was suggested a particularly harsh childhood after the Culling of Furya and before entering military service for something called 'The Company', whatever that was. His service record was immaculate, promotions to academies Vaako assumed were prestigious, then assigned to Sigma-three as a security enforcer, and then....

Nothing -which screamed to Vaako's martial mind of cover up and conspiracy-, and then suddenly The Company put an exorbitant bounty on his head. After that he was sent to prison after prison, body count climbing with each subsequent capture and escape. It was little wonder he was such a wanted man, and the fact that that very man now had control of an army was unnerving. Perhaps his murdering spirit could be harnessed for the Faith. The question of that first bounty plagued Vaako though, nagging like a pebble in his boot.

Something had changed in Riddick since their meeting on Helion Prime though, something was missing. Vaako couldn't put his finger on what, but he'd first noticed it after the light had left the eyes of that converted woman-child he was somehow connected to. It was like his light and life had left with her, which seemed preposterous for such a man. There was a story there too, and Vaako wanted to-

“Commander Vaako!” A soldier saluted, and Vaako looked around and found himself at the door of the Lord Marshal's Sanctum; his feet having carried him the familiar path while his mind wandered. Foolish.

“As you were. Is the Lord Marshal in?” Vaako narrowed his eyes at the soldier's incredulous expression.

“The Lord Marshal is indeed in, sir. He has not left the Sanctum. Ever.” The soldier's tone was somber, and it echoed in Vaako's mind. Vaako had heard that rumor, but thought it improbable. The Lord Marshal's Sanctum did include all necessities, but surely the man must have gone stir crazy at some point and ventured out.

“Have you been his guard for the entirety?” Vaako asked.

“Rashal and Kal spell me, but we confer at shift change and not one of us has seen him go. Nobility have come and gone, one in disgrace having been promoted in undue time. He says nothing to anyone, even the Elemental. Food's brought in, then later brought out barely touched, if touched at all.” The soldier shrugged. “Is Lord Marshal Riddick expecting you, Commander?”

“No, but as his First Among Commanders, I will be seen.” Vaako pulled open the heavy door and walked inside, mind in chaos.

 

 

' _I was always with you. I was...'_ Riddick, seated on a plush settee as if it were no more than a slam cot, stared at one of the many opulent walls of the main room of the Lord Marshal's Sanctum as he had for... hell it could've been one day or ten for all Riddick knew. His beard and hair had grown out a bit, but he couldn't guess at the time, didn't care enough to try.

He'd given only one order as Lord Marshal; leave Helion Prime, whole and as undamaged as possible, given the damage they'd already inflicted. Someone had asked him what to do with the empty shells, which he realized was what Necro's called corpses. Riddick found that only slightly amusing. Zhylaw, he could go out an airlock, Riddick didn't care.

Kyra though, Kyra he'd had sent back to New Mecca, to Imam's family, along with more than enough creds to bury her properly and repair damage to the city that Imam loved, had braved space travel and lost all of his charges to vicious aliens to get to. There had been disapproving murmurs at that. She'd converted, she deserved a proper Necromonger ceremony.

Fuck them.

Imam would be proud. He knew the man was dead, had seen it happen, but he couldn't help but think that if there was an angel watching over him or whatever, it would be Imam. After that had been handled, he'd retreated to the Lord Marshal's Sanctum and went damn near catatonic. Except for his mind, constantly whispering those last words of hers. Even when his body finally quit, he heard them in his sleep. Never ending.

Necros had come and gone, tried to introduce themselves, tried to ingratiate themselves to their new Lord Marshal, tried to fuck him. One had even tried to kill him. He spoke to none, fucked none, and had quickly dispatched the one that had made a pathetic attempt on his life. What should've left him feeling that delicious surge of blood lust had only left him cold as the too-dark blood staining the floor. He knew he had an army, a whole race of people to do something with, that expected something of him, but he could not bring himself to give a single flying fuck about any of that.

Even the Elemental, Aereon, had tried to speak with him of calculations and odds and balance, all her thirty-three words for it, and how Riddick needed to return to it or all would be lost. He'd sent her the most threatening glare he could summon, and even she had left him alone after that. He was a wounded animal, and he wanted to be left alone and left in peace. That was all Riddick had ever wanted, and now he was alone, but not in peace. Maybe never in peace.

_'I was always with you. I was...”_

Goddamn Carolyn Fry for dying for him, for poking at his inner humanity. Goddamn William Johns, the blue eyed devil himself, for threatening a kid named Jack who everyone else thought was a boy and poking it some more. Goddamn Imam for giving a good goddamn about him, as if he deserved the concern of a good, holy man like that. And, most of all, goddamn Jack -Kyra- for reminding him so much of himself that he couldn't turn away.

He'd loved her. Not romantically, although it might have gone that way, given time they no longer had. No, it was some other kind of love that had thawed his frozen heart and woke up something besides the animal side of him. Now he got to pay the price for all their sins against him. Fuck. His mind kept the cyclical train of thoughts until his hours had blended together. He needed food, but wasn't hungry. He needed sleep, but all he saw when he closed his eyes was Kyra's final breath, telling him she was always with him. Double fuck.

He became aware of the Sanctum door opening, of slow, steady, quiet footsteps approaching, and a scent he'd know anywhere. This man hadn't been one of the Necros that had come to pester him in the last days. Weeks? Didn't know, didn't care. Riddick had briefly wondered if Vaako had gone off to hang himself since he'd failed and now was trapped as first commander, or whatever his title was, under a... what had they called him? A breeder? So now, the zealot was trapped serving under a non-believer, when he'd wanted the Lord Marshal position for himself.

Or maybe he hadn't. After all, Dame Vaako had been the one to scream in dismay when her husband had failed, and Vaako had been the first to kneel before Riddick; if he hadn't been so cold, the thought of Vaako on his knees for him would've heated his blood, and that in and of itself didn't bear thinking about. He'd often wondered if Vaako shared his wife's ambition, or if he was just along for the religious ride. Seemed he'd find out. He wanted to ignore this Necro too, but something about the Commander commanded Riddick's attention. He smirked at his own pun as Vaako strode forward and went to one knee in front of him, fist to chest and head bowed.

“Lord Marshal Riddick,” the man was pale, looked anemic as they all did, but his voice was deep and smooth as honey, body strong and movements fluid, almost graceful in the way that fire is graceful. Just as dangerous. Riddick almost laughed at the poetics.

“Get up, Vaako.” Riddick cleared the roughness from his voice. He wasn't about to talk to someone staring at the floor. Vaako rose and stood at parade rest, expression still stoic and staring somewhere over Riddick's left shoulder, and Riddick wondered... “What _am_ I supposed to call you? Lord? Commander?”

“The Lord Marshal can call his First Among Commanders whatever pleases him, my Lord Riddick.” Riddick snorted.

“First Among Commanders is a mouthful but I _highly_ doubt you'd take me calling you _princess_ sitting down.” The look on Vaako's pale face and dark eyes as they snapped to Riddick's confirmed that, and Riddick actually grinned, cheeks aching from disuse, which widened the Commander's eyes. Shit. He cleared his throat.

“Vaako it is then, at least when it's just us,” he said quietly. Vaako nodded. Then just because fucking with his First Among Commanders was fun, he asked in the same softer voice, “Now, Vaako, what do you want?” The man's dark eyes widened for a split second, and color rose in his pale cheeks before he cleared his throat and answered. Interesting.

“Lord Marshal, you've given your army no direction, no command except to leave Helion Prime. The soldiers are getting restless. Uneasy. They don't know what to expect now that they serve under a... non-believer.” Riddick had seen the _breeder_ coming, but the man had tactfully changed the end of his sentence. Smart. “If you don't take your role as Lord Marshal seriously, there will be consequences.” Vaako was blunt, Riddick respected that. Most would've taken that last statement as a threat, but Riddick assessed Vaako's posture, his expression, and realized he was actually concerned. Whether for the ghost army and the Necromonger way, or his new Lord Marshal's wellbeing was anyone's guess.

The man was unwittingly highlighting the fact that Riddick had no fucking clue what to do with his newly inherited army. If he commanded them to give up their conquering ways, he'd be ghosted. Period. Likewise if he left them to their own devices for much longer, Riddick was positive they'd be busting down his door sooner than later. He needed more information. Riddick knew nothing about these Necros and their religion and their crusades, but he'd bet good creds that his First Among Commanders did.

“Troops keep to their daily regimens for now, we'll work on what to do with them.” Vaako nodded.

“Will you walk among them, Lord Marshal?” Riddick's eyes narrowed, and Vaako was quick to continue. “They would be less uneasy if you made yourself visible, perhaps even spar a few, to show them that you yourself were a soldier like them.” Vaako's eyes widened infinitesimally. Hadn't meant to give that bit away, had he?

“Been reading up on me, Vaako?” Riddick asked dangerously. Vaako's face went back to its default stoic expression.

“Wouldn't you want all the information you could on your enemy?” That raised Riddick's hackles until Vaako continued. “Even though you're no longer my enemy, the information is still valid, and I'm glad that I know what I know.” He held Riddick's hard stare, unblinking. Riddick liked this man more and more, and that could be hazardous. Vaako's eyebrows drew together as though debating with himself.

“Something wrong?” Riddick asked mildly.

“The information I read was... incomplete, and... confusing. I know the signs of a cover up when I read them.” Riddick's stomach dropped, but the question was out before he could say anything to stop it. “Lord Marshal, what happened on Sigma-three? What was the ori-”

“Not relevant, First Commander, move along!” Riddick barked. Vaako's eyes widened and Riddick thought he saw the briefest hurt cross his features. The words had come out harsher than Riddick had intended, but Sigma-three was a clusterfuck he didn't want to talk about with anyone, even this man. Pain in his hand made him look down to see his fists clenched so tight that nails that had grown in the however many days he'd been sequestered in here had bitten into his palms.

“Understood. Forgive me, Lord Marshal, perhaps I should not have dug so deep.”

“It's fine.” Riddick tried to find the rapport they'd just established, like grabbing at a rope that was just out of reach. “You're right, I'd've done the same, and it's good to know you don't consider me your enemy anymore. I don't want to be.” Vaako nodded at that, face still impassive but Riddick got the feeling he was sincere. “Possibly to the rest. Might do me good to get out and spar. You'll accompany me, Vaako.” The man nodded and went to speak but Riddick interjected, much to the Commander's annoyance. Riddick was pretty sure he could hear teeth grinding and that brought another smile to his face. Fucking with this man was more fun than he'd had in ages.

“Here's the thing,” Riddick began brusquely, “I'm not willing to command an army I know nothing about, that follows a religion I know nothing about, on a crusade I know _nearly_ nothing about.” Riddick stated, watching the argument build in Vaako's dark eyes -eyes that Riddick was having trouble not going all poetical about. “Which is why you're going to teach me.” Those dark eyes widened again.

“Lord Marshal?”

“You heard me,” Riddick could feel the wicked grin spread on his face and it felt good. “As well as my First Among Commanders, you'll get to be my personal adviser. You want what's best for your empire; make me the best Lord Marshal.” Riddick smirked at the look of consternation on the man's face. “You'll have to explain it like you're talking to someone educated in the penal system. You're a smart man, though, Vaako. I'm sure you'll figure it out.” The Commander's expression went back to its typical stoic demeanor, but... with a little more spark, perhaps? Riddick was finding it fun to get a rise out of his rigid commander. And didn't that jus-

“Of course, Lord Marshal. Anything else?” Riddick could think of many, many 'elses', and apparently some of them showed on his face, given the look of surprise -and a little heat- in Vaako's eyes. Vaako cleared his throat. “So, touring the training levels, possible sparring, a... lesson on Necroism...” Vaako waited for him to add anything else but the thought of doing just those things in the coming days exhausted him today. Fuck.

“That'll be all, Commander. More than enough.” Vaako nodded, eyes narrowing momentarily as he looked over Riddick before softening as he turned to leave. Riddick didn't even have the energy left to wonder what that'd been about. Maybe it was time to actually make use of the Lord Marshal's Bedchamber, instead of passing out where ever he happened to be sitting. Riddick smirked as he headed for the door. Perhaps someone _else_ would invade his dreams this time. One could only hope, he thought grimly. Guiltily.

 

 


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dame Vaako schemes, and things get hot in a cold shower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, you recognize Dame Vaako's 'real' (ie: picked because of the similarities) name. 10 points to anyone who gets the reference LOL

The moment Vaako entered their chambers, she pounced.

“You've been gone a long time, I was beginning to worry.” Not likely, Vaako thought. “Well? What did he say? What did you talk about? Tell me _everything_.” Yzma finished with a salacious leer that made Vaako's stomach turn. He knew he'd once found this woman beautiful, had even come close to caring for her at one time, but now... now he saw only the reptile that patterned her dresses.

“What the Lord Marshal and his First Among Commanders discuss is no concern of yours, Dame Vaako. Remember your place.” Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he knew she was more concerned with his shuttered response. If he were on board with her plan, the way Yzma thought he should be, he'd be spilling all. Vaako had never been on board though. Which meant she'd make her own plans, which meant they had to be cautious. Vaako snorted at his own thoughts. One meeting with the man and he'd begun to think of them as a team? Hardly. He had to give her something, though, in order to form a strategy.

“However, I've gotten him to agree to tour the training sections next cycle, maybe a bit of sparring with the troops to show that he, too, is a warrior.” One fine eyebrow arched. He could almost hear the wheels turning.

“That sounds... advantageous, dear husband,” that made her grin, though it was more conniving than happy, “and after you play tour guide?” She was suspicious, as well she should be.

“He has shown interest in learning about the Faith and the Necromonger way. I plan on starting from the beginning. Lord Riddick will certainly think it boring but he's an intelligent man. Very intelligent. Best not to  _underestimate_ him.” 

“Of course, dear husband, of course. One should never underestimate an enemy.” Her expression was as cold as her tone, and then, instead of asking about killing the man while taking his lesson or setting up an ambush while sparring with the soldiers, she simply walked away. Yes, she knew he had gone his own way, and she'd make up her own plans. And yes,  _they'd_ have to be vigilant, because the target could be either he or the Lord Marshal.

A full cycle later, headed back to the Lord Marshal's Sanctum, the Lord Marshal's challenge still followed him.  _Figure it out_ . Vaako was a warrior, not a scholar, had never taught anyone anything in his life... except military maneuvers. An idea started to form.

One taught soldiers to fight through repetition and reinforcement. Drilling over and over and over, praising those who showed quick competence and ability. Typically, incompetence punished itself with pain, but for Necromonger warriors, pain was dulled through lengthy Purifications to encourage focus on the goal at hand. The solution was simple of course; Necromonger soldiers that showed incompetence were killed by their own incompetence in undue time, allowing them no place in the UnderVerse. Vaako would take the same approach with the Lord Marshal and his education in Necromonger history.

Vaako had given his primary duties as First Among Commanders to Commander Toal and two of his most trusted Sub-Commanders, since the Lord Marshal would be demanding most of his time. Toal, who gave him only a raised eyebrow when Vaako had told him of his new duties to the Lord Marshal.

_Figure it out_ . Vaako was still a little baffled. Baffled, but a little impressed as well. The man seemed to have faith in Vaako's abilities, and seemed to genuinely want to learn their ways. Once he learned, perhaps he would Convert, be Purified. Then he could make the pilgrimage to the UnderVerse, see the glory of it for himself and become a Lord Marshal worthy of leading the legion vast. First, though, touring, and possibly sparring. 

Today he might get to see the man fight again, and he realized that since he himself would not be involved in the fighting, he would be able to watch without distraction; the thought of being fully focused on all that furious, brutal grace sent a thrill of excitement through Vaako that raised the corner of his mouth in a savage smile as he approached the Lord Marshal's Sanctum.

Odd; no guard. He grabbed for his weapon as he reached for the door, but it surprised him by opening on it's own. His surprise redoubled when his wife stepped out, her own eyes wide as she saw who she'd nearly collided with. That explained the lack of guard; she'd probably sent him away with the assumption that she could seduce the Lord Marshal and they'd be fornicating for a while. Pathetic. Vaako would have a word with the guards later, as well.

“Husband,” she said coolly, moving to push past him. Vaako grabbed her upper arm to hold her in her place beside the door and Yzma looked up at him sharply, eyes narrow.

“Why are you here?” he growled, his own dark eyes narrowed on his wife. It came as no shock to him that she'd come to the man on her own, whatever her reasons. He'd expected her to act against them, but not this brazenly.

“I came to speak with the bree-”

“You will address the Lord Marshal with his rightful title, Dame Vaako, or I will have you promoted in _undue_ time,” Vaako growled roughly, shaking his wife and widening her eyes further. He didn't know why the disrespect bothered him so now, perhaps because the man had shown interest in becoming a true Lord Marshal. There was something else simmering in his belly as he thought of his wife alone with Riddick. The same thing that had eaten at him when she'd led the man into the Basilica; something akin to rage, with a possessive lilt that left him seething.

“I will _not_ accept a _breeder_ as Lord Marshal! Nor should the rest of the Legion Vast!” Yzma hissed, and Vaako snapped his other hand out and grabbed her by the throat, pinning her up the the wall beside the door, toes _just_ touching the floor. He held her dangled there, and he got a perverse joy out of holding her squirming and terrified. He kept his tone low and dangerous.

“I will not tell you _again_. He _is_ Lord Marshal, such disrespect is unforgivable.” Vaako was on the verge of losing his temper. More and more his wife infuriated him with her ambition and power grabbing. Inevitably her ambition caused him trouble; rarely did it ever work in his favor. Lately, since Riddick had become Lord Marshal, it had become insufferable. He brought her down the wall so both feet were on the floor, but did not lessen his grip, and she was beginning to claw at his hands.

“I will not tolerate such disrespect toward the Lord Marshal, no matter who holds the title. I ask you again; what are you doing here?” He let up on the pressure on her throat and after a few gulps of air and reassurance she wouldn't come after him, relaxed his grip further.

“I told you. I came to speak with the b- the Lord Marshal myself. Your tactics are... time consuming, and I don't want him getting comfortable in his position.” She was lying through her teeth, Vaako knew the signs. It confirmed for Vaako his thoughts that she wanted to try and seduce the man into either showing weakness so she could kill him herself or taking her as his consort; either would work well for her. Yzma yanked his hand from her throat and he allowed it, straightening her dress and affecting a dignified air.

“I doubt you'll have better luck than I. He's closed himself in his bathing room.” She smiled cruelly as Vaako struggled to keep the concern from his expression. “He's just sitting there in the shower cubicle, freezing water running over him. His lips are turning a lovely shade of blue. You may inherit the position naturally, _dear husband,_ ” she sneered the last, and he practically threw her aside -missing the raised eyebrow and cunning grin on Dame Vaako's face- and yanked the door open, searching the outer room for the Lord Marshal, and when he didn't find him, Vaako went toward the bathing room.

Sure enough, the man was tucked into a tight ball against the wall of the showering cubicle, knees to chest, shoulders hunched and arms around his shins, icy water raining down on him. His normally russet skin was both pale and mottled flaming red in places from the cold water pelting him with icy needles, and lips indeed tinged an enticing shade of blue. His eyes were tightly closed, and only then did Vaako notice the lights up the highest they could go. He would not put it past his vicious wife to have turned them up this high, or had the Lord Marshal himself done so?

“Lights low,” he commanded and Vaako slapped the control for the torrent of water, ceasing it. Water soaked through gaps in his armor and soaked the cloth beneath. Vaako frowned. He had no change of clothes here, and walking back to his quarters soaking wet would be... inconvenient. He began stripping off his light armor and the black clothing beneath until he, too, was nude.

“Lord Marshal?” he asked quietly as he knelt just inside the cubicle, in front of the man's shins. No response whatsoever. “Lord Marshal? I've lowered the lights, will you open your eyes?” Still nothing. Vaako could see the shallow expansion and contraction of the man's torso, the beat of a pulse beneath the skin of the throat. The Commander moved forward, knee resting beside the Lord Marshal's thigh, skin touching skin and the man's flesh was colder even than Vaako's. “Lord Marshal?” Vaako raised a hand, he watched the Lord Marshal's nostrils widen, watched him inhale deeply, as Vaako hesitantly reached for the side of the man's face.

Mercurial eyes snapped open and, with stunning speed considering cold muscles, the Lord Marshal exploded into motion, launching forward, grabbing Vaako's wrists and with a low, dangerous growl he bore Vaako flat on his back on the cold stone floor, half in and half out of the cubicle. Vaako's first instinct was to fight back, to retaliate, but this was his Lord Marshal that had him pinned. When he looked up at the man, metallic eyes wild with pain stared back at him and the man's body quivered with barely leashed violence of his own.

Vaako tamped down his instincts and stayed calm, no matter the storm that seemed to be building in the animal that rested over him -almost against him, and Vaako fought hard to keep from thinking about how the man's body would feel fully against him. It was Riddick, but the growl and tension were all animal. The wild, pained eyes reminded him of a wounded beast. Not physically wounded, more emotional. Perhaps the death of the newly converted woman-child had affected him more than Vaako realized.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath that did little to calm his thrumming heart when he breathed in even the muted scent of the man, then opened his eyes again, holding eye contact hoping like hell that didn't set the animal off. The growl deepened, but Vaako did not look away.

“Riddick?” Vaako said the name quietly, voice low and as even as he could make it. As suddenly as it had started, the growl stopped. The tension bled out of Riddick, and he relaxed so that the man's naked body lay along Vaako's own and it was all he could do to suppress his groan at how good the solid weight on top of him felt.

The Lord Marshal closed his eyes, then slowly opened them again, shook his head slightly, and it was then that Vaako noticed the way Riddick's hands had gone from holding his wrists above his head to caressing the skin with his thumbs and moving his fingertips along Vaako's palms. Vaako stared into the man's silver eyes and abruptly gave up on not thinking about Riddick's hard body; the way it felt against his own, the weight of him and the solidness that was so, so different from anything Vaako had ever known. Vaako watched in fascination as a heated glow began to build in the other man's shined eyes as their gazes held; he felt entranced by those warm, mercurial pools and by the contact of their bodies.

Vaako felt a subtle shift of Riddick's hips, and suddenly their hard lengths -he'd been so focused on the man's burning eyes, Vaako hadn't noticed when either of them had become hard- were aligned. He inhaled to speak at the same moment Riddick slid his hips forward in a gentle thrust and Vaako gasped instead and there was no suppressing the moan this time. The man above him seemed to purr his approval; a lighter growl without the menacing timbre from before as he repeated the motion, and then again, building a slow rhythm.

The warm friction felt delicious as Riddick moved languidly against him, and Vaako found his own hips following suit, creating a perfect unconscious counterpoint to the other man's movements. Vaako had _never_ felt pleasure like this, Dame Vaako be damned. The man's cold body rubbing along his own, the feel of their erections sliding and rasping together, grinding against one another, created places of fire on their skin. Something was building in Vaako, behind his balls and along the base of his spine, something powerful and frightening.

“Lord Marshal?” Vaako's voice shook with it. Riddick's hands had stroked up to Vaako's, palm to palm, entwining their fingers and clutching gently, and he lowered his face to rest beside Vaako's; practically cheek to cheek with eyes half-lidded.

“Call me by name, Vaako,” the man's voice rumbled right beside Vaako's ear, sending another quiver along his body. “I'm not your Lord Marshal right now,” Riddick growled and gently bit the muscle at the side of Vaako's neck in mild reproach, which made Vaako hiss and groan again, made his whole body jerk.

“Riddick,” Vaako moaned the word, pressing his face into the side of the other man's neck, feeling Riddick's lips moving along his neck in turn and leaving fire in his wake. With permission granted he couldn't stop saying the name like a prayer, a supplication. “Riddick. _Riddick_.”

“Do you want this to stop, Vaako?” Riddick murmured the question against Vaako's skin, sending more shivers through him even as the pressure and pleasure kept building. He shook his head.

“No. Please. Don't stop,” Vaako's voice was trembling with the rest of him now. He couldn't believe this was happening, couldn't believe what this man was making him feel; like he would burn up and fly apart, but it was good, he wanted it. How he wanted it. He moaned again. _“Mmm. Riddick”_

“That's it. Sound so good, Vaako. Let go, let it happen.” The pleasured purr of the man's voice only added to Vaako's own pleasure, sending jolts of electricity up and down his spine and forcing his hips to thrust harder against the man above him, cocks grinding hard. Vaako felt Riddick lift his head, and he opened eyes he hadn't consciously closed enough to be swallowed by the molten heat in Riddick's shined eyes. “ _Yeah_ . Let go. Let me see it. Come, Vaako. Come for me, come.” 

With each successive word the pressure multiplied until all Vaako could do was obey helplessly. Boiling waves of blinding pleasure whited out his vision. Mouth open in a silent scream as he forgot how to breathe, his body arched hard against the man still crooning words against his cheek like _'that's it,'_ and  _'yeah, beautiful,'_ and ' _that's what I wanted'_ as his hips kept undulating against Vaako's, drawing out the pleasure from him in rush after wet, scalding rush between their abdomens. Vaako was gone and all he knew was pleasure and pleasure and then nothing, as though when his orgasm faded, all he was went with it. 

When he opened his eyes, the Lord Marshal was no longer atop him, and the realization of what he'd just done appalled him. He'd forgotten himself, allowed the Lord Marshal to bring him pleasure. Riddick, the  _Lord Marshal,_ had brought  _him_ pleasure, and a pleasure unlike any he'd ever known. Should it not have been the other way around? If that had been the Lord Marshal's desire, he had but to say a word and a consort would be found. And had the man himself even found his  _own_ pleasure? Vaako would have remembered that, he thought, no matter how out of his mind he'd been. He couldn't-

“I can feel you thinking over there, Vaako. Knock it off.” The man's tone was mild, and didn't sound far away, and Vaako thought he heard running water but he had no inclination to look as the magnitude of what had just transpired washed through him.

 

 

 

Riddick knew the moment the euphoria wore off, the man would freak the fuck out about what had just happened. Riddick, himself, was only slightly less freaked out.

He'd had the nightmare again, her last words over and over and over as she died again and again and again. Slammed into the spike, laying in his arms, dying. Interspersed were images of dark eyes and soft lips, but he still woke up with wet eyes _again_ and headed straight for the shower for much needed penance. He washed, shaved a weeks worth of beard and hair -he'd found out he'd been sequestered for ten days, total-, then turned the control as cold and narrow as it could go, so when he sat on the floor of the cubicle it would feel like icy needles raining down on him. He closed his eyes and imagined those icy needles shredding him open, imagined the water running down the drain crimson with his blood until there was nothing left.

He longed for it.

He had no idea how long he sat there. Dame Vaako came, nattered what she must have thought was seductively about helping him dry and then warming him _personally._ Like he'd ever fuck that conniving whore. She'd gotten pissed at his non-responsiveness, ordered the lights on full just for spite and stomped off. Then Vaako came, and even after he dimmed the lights Riddick kept his eyes closed, unwilling to see the look in the man's eyes at finding his Lord Marshal in the state he was in.

Riddick had heard movement, smelled the man's skin unsuppressed by the man's clothing, felt Vaako probably about to touch his face, and the animal in him reacted, leaping forward and pinning the man to the floor. A war had waged within him then; kill, release, or rut with his mate, but then Vaako had spoken his name -his _name,_ not his title- and he'd come back to his senses enough to recognize the position they were in and that Vaako felt better against his body than anything had for a long, long while. Those three options had been stripped down to only one.

If Vaako had tried to get up, pushed back, objected in _any_ form, Riddick would've been off the man like his cold skin had burned him. Vaako had only _responded,_ so beautifully, so _sensually_ , and when Riddick had gotten that first gasp-moan combo, that's when he knew Vaako was his. Maybe not _his_ his _,_ but for this moment, beautiful Vaako belonged to him. Belonged under him. Riddick couldn't stand the sound of his title coming from Vaako's mouth like that; so unsure, tentative.

Riddick's name, however, the way it trembled from his lips -over and over- did things to the man's insides that had never been done before; fantastic, absurd things. Terrifying things.

Riddick, himself, had never had any intention of getting off; that had never been the point. He needed to see something beautiful, something _alive,_ after the nightmare that haunted him. No, he wanted to watch the gorgeous man come apart, come undone, beneath him. When Vaako finally gave in to it with that silent scream, the arch of that powerful body beneath Riddick's own damn near sent him over the edge anyway. Fighting it back had been rough but he'd done it by focusing on the man under him, coaxing him through his own orgasm and soaking in his pleasure.

No, when Riddick came it would be with Vaako willingly in his bed. He didn't know when he'd made that decision; were he honest with himself, it was probably all the way back on Helion Prime. Somehow, his inner animal had decided this man was his, and Riddick had no cause to object. Never thought it'd be a man. Course, he'd never really thought about it much at all; too busy running. It made a strange kind of sense though, since a warrior would be the only one with the balls enough to be his.

Riddick had gotten up quickly, though hesitantly, to clean himself up and get a warm cloth when he sensed the man return to the here and now, and could feel the tension radiating from where he stood at the sinks.

“I can feel you thinking over there, Vaako. Knock it off,” Riddick said mildly, as he wrung out the hot cloth and carried it over to his lov- his First Among Commanders to clean him. Eyes averted, Vaako reached for the cloth, but Riddick ignored him, ignored his squawking about a Lord Marshal cleaning bodily fluids, and wiped the spunk from the man's chest and around his spent cock. He was dying to taste, but he'd rather taste from the source, and that would come later.

“Vaako!” Riddick snapped, and the man's protests cut off instantly, “Just... Finish drying off, get dressed, armor and all, and meet me in the front room, Lord Marshal's Great Room, whatever. We've got a tour and sparring to get to, don't we?”

“Yes, Lord Ma-”

“Riddick. When we're alone, and after what we just did? You call me Riddick, got it?” Raised eyebrow for emphasis.

“Yes... R-Riddick.” The uncertainty in the man's voice and expression niggled at him even as Riddick went to his bedroom and after opening the closet, and another closet, he found the Lord Marshal's Light Armor Room, he guessed anyway. He wouldn't need the full getup, wouldn't be able to move with it anyway, so he selected a chest plate with neck guard, greaves, and vambraces only. It would seem like no armor at all, but it felt like overkill to Riddick, and he did it mostly to appease his First Among Commanders.

Riddick was the first to arrive, and so straddled the settee and sat waiting patiently for but a few moments when Vaako entered from the opposite side of the room, strode forward, eyes downcast, and moved to go to one knee before Riddick.

“No kneeling. Just sit. Like me. Face to face.” Vaako complied silently, almost at the other end of the settee -which was too far away in Riddick's mind- and still would not look up. The temptation to scoot closer, to reach out and touch, to make the man look him in the eye, was strong.

“Vaako, look at me.” The man's jaw clenched but he did, eyes narrow and not even pretending to hide his uncertainty now. Riddick swiped his hand down his own face. “I meant what I said, you call me Riddick when we're alone. I'm Lord Marshal out there, but in here, with you, I'm Riddick and you're Vaako. Understand?”

“I _don't_ understand.” Vaako's expression darkened, teeth grit. Riddick sighed.

“Honestly, neither do I, but you can't tell me you haven't felt this coming since Helion. Circling each other, like... like planets that're-”

“-orbiting the same sun and-”

“-bound to collide?” Riddick sat there baffled, because apparently Vaako had. The man swallowed. Hard.

“In my thoughts it was 'destined to collide', but semantics,” Vaako said with a wan smirk. The Necro was apparently baffled as well.

“Might as well clear the air before we go tour and spar. Ask your questions, Vaako. I know you have them, I have some of my own. Ask.” Vaako thought for a moment.

“Why where you in the shower cubicle like that?” Vaako's brows drew together. “Bathing is one thing, but that... that was like torture.” Vaako's expression seemed pained, and that hadn't been the first question Riddick had expected. Could the man _actually_ be concerned for him? Maybe even care? Riddick nipped that thought in the bud. Vaako simply waited, no expectation. Riddick thought about passing on the question as he had with the one about Sigma-three, but instead he sighed, heavily. This was going to hurt.

“It is torture, of a sort,” Riddick said quietly, rolling forward, fists clenched and arms crossed around his middle -tension coiling with no outlet and unconsciously protecting himself when he felt so exposed. He expected Vaako to react, to comment, something, but the man just sat with that same, almost indifferent air and waited for Riddick to rip open his wounded soul.

“I've failed a lot of good people, people that died for me,” Goddamned Fry, “or because of me.” Goddamned Kyra. “People that should be alive instead of me.” Goddamned Imam, and each name he thought drove the spike through his chest just that much more until his throat tightened and he had to rasp the last sentence. “It's the best I can do without actually flogging myself.” He gave a self depreciating smile and cleared his throat. “Next question.”

“What... what was...” Vaako huffed irritably, “what you did to me... I...”

“Hold up. What I _did_ to you?” Vaako's quiet words hit him like a punch to the gut, blood going cold and heart dropping out. “Did you consider that rape, Vaako? Because that-”

“No! Lord Marshal,” Riddick growled, Vaako flinched and corrected himself, “Riddick, no. I was not... forced.” Vaako's brows drew together in consternation. “I've never... it's... never been like that... for me. Ever.” Riddick wanted to interject, but instead let the man work through it. Finally with a deep breath he continued. “I've never felt pleasure like that before,” he admitted softly, looking anywhere but at Riddick, “and you didn't find your own release.” Vaako looked away but Riddick didn't miss the look of dejection when he added, “If you want a consort, one can be found...” At that Riddick did laugh.

“If I'd wanted to come, I would've,” Riddick said bluntly, causing Vaako's brows to come together again. “It was close. Seeing you like that, feeling you...” Riddick shuddered at the memory of Vaako's hard body arching against his own. “You think I made you come just because you were a willing body?”

“I don't know what to think.” Vaako looked away again, looking much too vulnerable. Riddick scooted closer to the man, close enough that only a bare inch of space separated their knees, and lifted Vaako's chin with his fingertips. The powerlessness in those dark eyes stabbed at Riddick right around where his heart would be, if he'd had one. Maybe Fry, Imam, Jack  _and_ Kyra gave him parts of theirs. Fuck, wasn't that a thought. 

“I made you come,” Riddick began quietly, “because I wanted to watch you come. I wanted you to feel pleasure, I wanted to be the one to bring you that pleasure.” Vaako's jaw dropped just a little, and Riddick smiled. “I don't want some sniveling consort, I want  _you_ . You, strong, First Among Commanders Vaako. I still want you. Something about you... I don't know what it is, but it calls to me, calms me, makes me feel... alive. Goddamn that sounds sappy as hell but it's true. Tell me you feel nothing and I'll never bring it up again, we forget about what just happened and move on.” Riddick's stomach clenched at the thought. Vaako stared at him, wide eyed at Riddick's confession, and who could blame him.

“I... I do not...” Riddick's stomach sank and knotted, ready to throw the wall- “I do not feel... nothing. I don't know what it is that I _do_ feel, but it's... not nothing.” Each man nodded, stunned again, and a little lost.

“Okay,” Riddick finally said, “okay. I can work with not nothing.” Vaako gave him the smallest smile, one he'd never pictured on the other man's face, and it made him smile himself. Riddick knew he had more questions, but back to business. “You don't want to be Lord Marshal.” It was a blunt statement that obviously threw Vaako, given their previous topic. Riddick sat back a bit, gave them some space to discuss this, but kept his tone light. “Your wife, she wants it. I know her sort. You though? I think you only want what's best for your beloved empire.” Vaako seemed to take that in stride, not immediately confirming or denying Riddick's theory.

“It's true it has been more her ambition to become Lady Vaako, wife to the Lord Marshal. However you are correct that I only want what's best for the Faith. Which is why I want to teach you our ways, so that you can understand, then perhaps Convert, be Purified-” the man's eyes lit up, came alive, ironically enough.

“Whoa whoa there, slow down.” Riddick chuckled. “You gotta educate me first, don't you think?” Vaako nodded, looking no less excited, if a little chagrined. Riddick stood, stepping over the settee, and Vaako followed suit. “Besides we have some touring to do, yes?” Riddick turned toward the front door.

“Wait, Riddick.” He turned toward Vaako, eyebrows up. “You're not going fully armored?”

“I'd go in no armor if I thought you'd let me, but this is as much as I'll wear to appease you. It'll have to do.” Vaako's brow and mouth both drew down.  
“Riddick, I believe Dame Vaako may try something today, though whether the target would be you or me is... questionable.” Vaako said the last with a wince.

“Trouble in paradise, Vaako?” Riddick smirked and the man's frown deepened.

“Hardly paradise,” Vaako muttered. “She'll either have someone try to strike you a mortal blow and I would then take the kill, or she may have me killed, then try to become Lady Riddick.”

“Neither is acceptable,” Riddick growled harshly, voice coming out like boulders crashing together. Both options set Riddick's blood to boiling.

“Then we'd best be vigilant.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still don't know how many chapters this is gonna be LOL


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is touring, sparring, attempted murder, wiki-canon facts about Riddick's past and a whole lotta feels... there's some angst too.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING: THERE ARE MENTIONS OF NON CHARACTER RELATED ABUSE AND RAPE IN THIS CHAPTER

Vaako knew the three training levels better than he knew his own quarters. The top most was dedicated to hand to hand combat and martial arts. Soldiers in and out of armor, in groups of two and three and more all locked in weaponless struggles as he and the Lord Marshal passed. The second level was weapons training. Some of the deadliest weapons imaginable from every known culture, every conquered world, lined the considerably long walls, some real, some practice.

The third level, however, was where the hands and weapons came together. The floor could be bare, for unit drills, or could be changed into sparring rings with the flip of a switch. There were banks of retractable stands along the walls for spectating or classes, and this is where Vaako caught first sight of his wife. She had the ear of a large soldier Vaako didn't know, and though he looked bored, his eyes were intent and scanning. When they came close to settling on Vaako he glanced away, pointing something out to the Lord Marshal.

He nudged the Lord Marshal and motioned with only his eyes in the general direction of his wife and the soldier and the Lord Marshal gave the subtlest nod; he'd seen her, too.

“There's no way of knowing who all she's spoken to before we arrived,” Vaako said only loud enough that the Lord Marshal could hear.

“She'll probably make her move when I spar.” Vaako's eyes widened fractionally before he could stop them.

“You'll still fight, even with the threat? I never took you for a fool, Lord Ma-” The Lord Marshal just snorted.

“Rather have it done and over here and now. We know it's coming here.” Vaako saw the logic in it. At least they knew the who's and how's here. The Lord Marshal turned to face Vaako and caught his eye, expression grave and voice quietly intense.

“Are you with me, Vaako?”

It was the same question he'd asked the newly converted woman-child; not just a question of loyalty, but a declaration of intent, an acknowledgment of this _thing_ between them. Vaako had a choice; only one choice.

“ _I am with you_ , Riddick.” Vaako spoke the words -the name- slowly, earnestly, maintaining eye contact, making sure Riddick understood. The man's eyes widened, perhaps at the gravity of Vaako's answer, but nodded, expression just as grave.

As they toured and Vaako explained the areas and routines, the Lord Marshal asked questions and spoke to the soldiers. Vaako took note of facial expressions of the soldiers they passed, how their expressions ranged from interest to distaste, but not much if any outright hostility. Promising. However, the Lord Marshal was getting tired of having to tell them not to bow, not to go to a knee, and to carry on with their training as he passed.

The attack came when they'd expected it. Riddick had sparred several elite soldiers, and only one had made him break a sweat. The other four, Vaako knew, he could've ended as quickly as Irgun, but he toyed with them, made it look like an actual fight. Showed off a bit, and earned more and more respect from the legion with each match. Showed them, soldier to soldier, why they would follow him, and Vaako felt the esteem of the crowd grow. Felt his own esteem for the man grow.

Riddick looked more alive now than he had since he'd killed Zhylaw. Watching the man move, watching his muscles flow and contract, watching the intellect in his eyes, had Vaako's blood heating and his body vibrating. He was so focused on the Lord Marshal, he almost missed it.

Vaako noticed the big soldier his wife had spoken to coming forward to challenge the Lord Marshal, but he also noticed two more in the crowd, at strategic points around the edge of the circle, that were not acting like the rest. While most of the spectators were in avid discussion or stood in rapt attention, these two looked grim and nervous, almost twitchy. Vaako saw the plan then. Engage the Lord Marshal with the big one, then get him backed up so that one of the others could stab or trip or use some other means of distraction, then strike the fatal blow.

As the Lord Marshal made introductions, Vaako slipped up beside the smaller of the two in the crowd along the fighting circle.

“Whatever was promised, it's not worth your undue death. Leave.” The body beside him tensed, then slipped away quickly. Vaako glanced to the ring, the large soldier was taking a ready stance, not taking his eyes off the Lord Marshal, trusting that his accomplices were in position. Both smart and foolish. Vaako scanned the crowd for the second saboteur, but he'd either lost his nerve and run or perhaps had noticed Vaako's exchange with this one and fled. No matter.

As the sparring began, Vaako almost let himself be distracted again by the movement and fluid grace of Riddick in action as he dodged, deflected and parried every strike. The big soldier was good, and knew well how to use his size as an advantage, but the Lord Marshal was quicker in his light armor, not so reliant on size and brute strength. Vaako saw the moment the big fighter knew something was wrong; he'd had the man's back to both places he should have and nothing had happened. Then Vaako spotted the second saboteur about to meet the fighters where they were headed, and he went cold with dread.

Vaako only had time to yell out for Riddick to get down as he grabbed a set of throwing knives from the belt of the soldier beside him and threw -not his best weapon but they would do. Riddick dropped without hesitation, pulling the bigger fighter off balance enough that he came tumbling down atop him in surprise. Riddick had him rolled and his limbs pinned somehow beneath him as he sat astride the man's hips, shiv at his throat, by the time the second throwing knife hit the other soldier in the throat. It was unnecessary; the first had hit the soldier square in the eye. The Lord Marshal's harsh voice drew everyone's attention.

“We already know who set this up,” the man growled, “yell it out for everyone here before I kill you!” The soldier tried to stay silent, but when the shiv opened flesh at his throat...

“Dame Vaako!! Dame Vaako set up an ambush on the breeder Lord Marshal, and if we couldn't kill him to kill Commander Vaako instead!” Still screaming, even as his voice lost breath as Riddick drug the shiv across his neck, severing wind pipe and arteries.

“Any other problems with the breeder Lord Marshal?” He asked as the big soldier lay in a growing pool of his own blood, and a unanimous, resounding, “No, Sir!” rang from the surrounding soldiers amassed. “Good, now find Dame Vaako, bring her to me!”

As it happened, Vaako's bitch wife was better at hiding than anyone would have thought. The Lord Marshal had given strict instructions that she was to be found at any cost and he would be notified immediately, no matter the time. He ordered all arriving and departing ships halted and searched, and all gates were closed until she was found. He'd gone to the throne room to await news, but as the hours had dragged by with nothing, Vaako had suggested they retreat to the Lord Marshal's Sanctum for a lesson in Necroism as a distraction. The Lord Marshal had agreed readily, but the lesson had quickly turned to conversation instead.

“I have a question,” Vaako started between bites of dolga -a fruit that when prepared just so had a salty sweet crispness that was a favored snack among the troops due to its high protein and electrolyte content. When he'd explained it to Riddick, he'd called it nutritious junk food, whatever that meant. “What happened on Crematoria, after the drop ships left? What happened to the Purifier?” Riddick paused his chewing only a split second, then locked his steely eyes on Vaako's cautiously.

“Depends. Do you want the Necro-friendly version, where he delivered his message and we fought it out and I killed him?” Riddick paused to swallow, then locked eyes with Vaako once more. “Or do you want the truth?” Vaako was fairly certain he knew the truth, but to hear the Lord Marshal's -Riddick's, he was still getting used to the difference between the two- account of it would put something to rest for Vaako, and so he chose the truth. “He had a message for me from Zhylaw to stay away from him and I'd never have to watch my back again.” That explained why the Purifier was assigned to the tracking team. Riddick's expression darkened.

“He told me that the Necromonger in him warned me not to go back, but that-” silver eyes flashed “-the _Furyan_ side of him hoped I wouldn't listen.” Riddick was watching Vaako for reaction, but he got none, and that piqued the man's interest as evidenced by the quirking of an eyebrow before he continued. “Then he walked out into the day. That maelstrom you all fled from, he just walked into it.” Riddick's brows drew together and he stared down at the fruit in his hand, but his distant gaze told Vaako he wasn't seeing anything in the here and now.

“He made it less than a dozen steps. I watched him... disintegrate. It took... seconds, to reduce that man to ash and bones. I watched his skull roll in the wind...” Riddick looked away, hiding his emotion and Vaako wouldn't -couldn't- abide that.

“Don't, don't do that.” The man looked back, startled. And then Vaako was shocked to see those silver eyes glistening, ever so slightly. Expressionless, except for the shining in his shined eyes. Vaako's brow furrowed, wondering when he'd started believing he had any right to ask anything of this man. Still... “Don't hide from me.” Their gazes held for a moment before Riddick nodded and continued.

“He said he'd done unspeakable things for a faith that was never his own, and then he was just ...gone,” Riddick inhaled deeply, and if it sounded a bit wet, Vaako pretended not to notice. “I never knew where I came from, only that I was thrown away when I was born. Then this Elemental shows up and gives me a heritage, a people that I was the last of, supposedly. Then... then there's another... and then he was gone.”

Vaako understood then, understood the joy and agony that moment must have been for Riddick. To find one of your kind, only to have them cruelly ripped away moments later. Vaako couldn't imagine, and a piece snapped into place in Vaako's mind. He'd thought the man's murdering spirit could be capitalized on for the Faith, but no man that felt such emotion, such loneliness, such hope and despair, could have such a murdering spirit. Killing out of necessity was not the same as murder. Riddick cleared his throat, breaking Vaako from his thoughts, and swallowed, and again.

“You weren't surprised he was Furyan,” he made it a statement, not a question.

“No, I was not. Thank you for telling me what happened to him.” Vaako chuckled mirthlessly. “I should be angry shouldn't I? I worked beside him for so long, thought him the pinnacle of the Necromonger Faith. He was dedicated, persuasive, he honestly wanted to convince people to convert, or at least he pretended very well.”

“I think,” Riddick started, “that he made the best of a shit situation. I do believe he acted very well to try and save as many as he could, but I also cannot imagine the weight on his soul each time the planet killers were activated.” Vaako noticed Riddick's tone had grown more serious the longer he spoke, but the next words he spoke were shockingly vehement and widened Vaako's eyes. “When the only options are convert or die it's no better than slavery.”

 

 

 

Riddick was transported instantly back to Sigma-three, and he felt his stomach clench around the snacks they'd been eating as they talked. The screams of children being shocksticked and women and men both being gang raped rang through his mind and he felt himself starting to shake, felt a cold sweat breaking out on his skin like the musty moisture from the tunnels he used to sweep for spitfires. He couldn't breathe-

Riddick startled at the cool hand he felt on his cheek and only then noticed Vaako standing over him calling his name.

“I'm good,” he croaked, cleared his throat, “I'm okay.” The concern in Vaako's sable eyes would have warmed him if he weren't so fucking chilled from the echoed memories.

“Where did you go?” Vaako asked as he sat at Riddick's feet. Vaako started to pull his hand back but Riddick clutched it to the side of his face, closed his eyes, leaned into the touch like a cat seeking affection. Once the pain in his chest eased and the ache in his throat let up, he reached behind Vaako's neck, gripping his nape and pulled the man to him, resting their foreheads together.

“You wanted to know about Sigma-three?” His voice was little more than a grated whisper, but he felt Vaako nod tensely against his forehead.

“I do, but if it will cause you pain to speak of it...” Vaako's voice was quiet, and Riddick drew strength from it.

“It'll hurt like hell, but you need to understand why this Necro crusade can't continue on the way it has if I'm to really be Lord Marshal.” He caught Vaako's eyes, still filled with concern but also understanding as well. Vaako swallowed and looked away, a flush staining his cheeks.

“May I... may I sit with you?” the man asked quietly, still not looking Riddick in the eye. The Lord Marshal's Lounging Room was as opulent as it sounded, filled with over-stuffed chairs and couches and large cushions. It was a room made for exactly what it's name implied; lounging. They had been occupying separate, adjacent couches, each with room enough for another person if you got cozy. Was Vaako actually asking to cuddle up while Riddick talked about the assignment that ruined his military career and his life?

Riddick nodded, unsure he could get through the story any other way.

The other man squeezed into the chair beside him, hip to hip and shoulder to shoulder, and Riddick felt a ridiculous warmth in his gut at the way Vaako fit against his side. It took a little adjusting, but after a moment Vaako was molded to him, and Riddick felt like he could finally breathe enough to speak.

“The first time I was stationed at Sigma-three I was a sweeper, you saw that in my records, right?” He felt Vaako's nod against his shoulder where the man had laid his head. “We were almost constantly in the tunnels, left to our own devices. It's where I learned to cheat at dice,” he added with a wan chuckle.

“Then you were promoted to the strike force academy on Sigma-three's moon,” Vaako prompted gently, and Riddick loved and hated him a little for forcing him on. He swallowed.

“In the tunnels, we didn't have much contact with the surface or the miners. After I graduated they put me back planet side as a security enforcer at the mines. We were never told what they were mining for, or why, but whatever it was the shit was toxic, and the miners were little more than slaves.” Riddick unclenched his fists only because Vaako had reached down and placed his cool hand over Riddick's own. He drew a deep breath and continued.

“People who'd run afoul of the Company for one reason or another. Some of them were criminals, but most were families who'd gotten in over their heads with debt or spoken up against one policy or another. Simple people who'd had no choice but to work the mines or die, or worse, watch their families tortured and murdered.” Riddick snorted sardonically. “They still ended up watching their families being tortured and murdered because enforcing security meant torture and murder. Rape.” Riddick swallowed hard, tipping his head back to try and keep the memories from drowning him. The broken-eyed women and children with the same thousand yard stare he'd seen on battle-hardened combat vets... He was shaking again, he could feel it in the way Vaako was stroking his arm.

“You tried to shut them down, didn't you?” Vaako asked quietly. “That's where the original contract came from.” Riddick nodded.

“I compiled evidence, testaments, video, audio from guards gloating about what they'd done to children. To old men and women.” Riddick's throat felt like he'd swallowed crushed glass, his gut was well on its way to the same feeling. “I should've just gone to the Federation, but I thought maybe if the higher ups at the Company understood what was happening...” Naive. He'd been so. Fucking. Naive. “Your so-called religion is no better, making people choose between serving you and death for holding other beliefs,” Riddick growled. Vaako gasped at the harsh words, lifted his head from Riddick's shoulder to look him in the face but Riddick wouldn't look at him, couldn't.

“We offer them-”

“You offer nothing!” Riddick hissed. “From now on, they will have a _choice_ , Vaako. A real choice. They will convert willingly, or not at all, and not at all will not mean _death_ and the _destruction of their entire civilization!_ ” Vaako tensed, sensing how serious Riddick was about this perhaps.

“Then how will we replenish our ranks?” he asked quietly. “We cannot keep an army that has no way to restore itself after losses.” The man had a point, but so did Riddick.

“If we're not battling planets, we won't lose as many soldiers.” It was a gun Riddick would stick to, like it or not.

The following day was the same, and the one after that; sparring with the soldiers and building rapport and camaraderie, conversation and debate, where he and Vaako hammered out a plan for the armada that did not include planet killers. They would approach planets peaceably, offer the Necro's 'salvation' to those who wanted it. Riddick didn't give a flying fuck about their religion, but he would not see another planet fall, period.

After the first three days, however, after the conversations and Riddick's realization that he was getting in too deep with this man, he'd retreated, watching Vaako's expression go from hurt to anger to indifference and back to hurt over the days that followed as Riddick pushed him further and further away. Still too gutted by his guilt over Kyra -more the fact that he was feeling less guilt the more time he spent with Vaako which made him even more guilty. Still too raw from telling Vaako about the nightmare of Sigma-three and the things he'd been forced to do while 'employed' there, the things he'd been forced to do to survive after. Not to mention they had yet to find Dame Vaako, so the possibility of another attack was high.

After another week of his cold shoulder, Vaako came to him with blazing eyes and fierce expression.

“You're still neglecting your duties as Lord Marshal.” Vaako stood with his arms crossed, face stern, stance set and ready, though he didn't look like he was itching for a fight. The fire in his dark eyes was undermined by the worry Riddick could see there. That part of this whole shit storm was the part that bothered Riddick the most, and he was bothered by the fact that he was bothered by Vaako's worry over him.

The problem was that Riddick didn't give a good god damn about his duties as Lord Marshal. He didn't give a good god damn about anything right now, and though part of him felt like a coward and a petulant child, the rest of him didn't give a good god damn about that either. Vaako sighed.

“You've gone back to sequestering yourself in your chambers, you send all away who try to aid you, including myself,” there was the flicker of hurt again, “if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were hiding,” the man sneered the word like it left a foul taste in his mouth, “but even a _criminal_ such as yourself would never hide like this.” Vaako was trying to bait him into a reaction; he was the only one who could.

“What the fuck do you want from me, Vaako?” Riddick growled, rising from his seat, tense, fists clenched,stalking toward the man. “I didn't want this shitty position, I only wanted Zhylaw dead, and you won't take it from me without killing me. You don't even _want_ it, and there's no one else, so I'm stuck with it.” Riddick felt himself starting to bleed, couldn't stop it from pouring from his eyes and into his words. “I've lost fucking _everything_ , Vaako. I didn't have much to begin with, and now I've gained an empire I never wanted on a crusade I don't give a flying fuck about.” Riddick crowded into the smaller man's space, distantly noticing the uptick in Vaako's breathing and the flare of nostrils.

“So I ask again, what do you want from me, Vaako?” Riddick's mercurial eyes went to Vaako's throat as he swallowed hard. He opened his mouth to speak, closed it again, brows drew together in thought, and then...

“Your empire needs you, your army needs direction. We need a strong leader. However _I_ don't _want_ anything from you, not anymore, Lord Marshal,” Vaako responded quietly, searching Riddick's eyes with his own inky orbs, but Riddick's hackles still went up.

“Riddick!” The man growled again, making Vaako jump. “I'm not your fucking Lord Marshal when we're together. Thought I'd made that clear.”

“Riddick,” he sighed, holding out placating hands, almost laying them on Riddick's chest, they were so close now, “I want to help you, to serve you, but I... I don't know how. I don't know, don't understand, what you need.” That admission had cost the man something. Riddick could see it in his eyes, his expression.

He was First Among Commanders for a reason, though he was the youngest ever and despite being smaller in stature than the other three Commanders. Riddick had found a fascinating intelligence and character in Vaako. The man had crawled under his skin, taken root, and elicited emotions in Riddick that he was loathe to admit to, but could not deny; he wasn't in the habit of lying to himself.

After days of being cold and alone again, the lonely animal inside him howling for its mate, Riddick was ready to accept what Vaako was offering. Riddick leaned forward, resting his forehead against Vaako's cooler skin, breathing the deep, winter scent he'd come to crave over the time they'd spent together and hadn't had enough of in the short time he'd pushed the man away.

“I'm so fucking tired, Vaako. I just need... you,” Riddick lowered his mouth so that it hovered directly over Vaako's, whispering his words against the man's lips as they parted on a gasp, “just you. Just this, with you.” Vaako swallowed hard, his lips moving subtly under Riddick's, still barely making contact; phantom touches that seared nonetheless.

“You'll be my first... with a male. My first...” Vaako sighed against Riddick's mouth, “I've never wanted anyone like this before, I've never felt the burning that you evoke in me.” Riddick let the man feel the smile that curved his lips.

“We'll take our time, figure it out together.” Riddick felt Vaako nod slightly, and their lips finally -damn, _finally-_ came together for the first time in a soft push that took the breath from each man as if they were in vacuum.

It was all tenderness as their lips moved together, hard bodies pressing but not forcing, hands roaming but not grabbing; just to feel, not demand or control. Riddick brought his hands up to the sides of Vaako's neck, caressing the soft skin below his jaw and gently tilting his head to the side to deepen the kiss. Not too deep, not too fast; still just the gentle press and slow movement of their lips together.

When it came to sex, violence was always preferable to vulnerability. Riddick was used to violent clashing; the few times he'd fucked had been rough and hurried. Frenzied, only caring about getting off as quickly as possible. Usually with some whore at whatever planet he'd been passing by after his most recent escape, and only when the needs of his body had grown to the point of distraction. He was too well known to spend much time in any one place, and his face was plastered all over most inhabited planets, making it too dangerous to bother most times. Finding someone who didn't know his face or his shined eyes that he was willing to let get close enough to get off with was next to impossible.

He had never, _ever_ found anyone worth savoring, worth taking his time with and basking in. Such an idea was damn near unheard of but it sounded like heaven to Riddick now. Yeah, they'd take their time, draw this out, whatever it was. Riddick had a feeling they both needed something tender and slow, something gentle in lives that had been anything but, and it would be no hardship on his part to watch this man come apart with him.

Riddick backed away slowly to break the kiss, opening his eyes as he pulled away and the look of stunned joy on the other man's face was nothing short of breathtaking; eyes gently closed, mouth slightly slack, lines of his face relaxed in a way Riddick had never seen before. Riddick leaned in close again, ducking his head and trailing his nose slowly from Vaako's collar up to the flesh behind his ear, inhaling as he went, taking in the crisp, clean scent of him.

“Beautiful.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Literally breaking this into chapters, so the next one starts as if you just read that last line, so maybe if you're gonna quit here for the night, read the first few lines of the next one just so it makes sense, then try like hell not to keep reading, or else, what time do you have to be up for work/school/alternate morning obligation again?


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is the clear up of a misunderstanding and a whoooooole lotta mansexness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> maybe if you didn't come straight from the last chap, re read the last bit of that for context here

The word left Vaako a little cold, whipsawed from pleasure to chilly shock and dousing a bit of the heat that had kindled within him from the joining of their mouths and the potential of what was to come. He stiffened in Riddick's hold, and the man backed away only far enough to look him in the eye questioningly.

“I wish you wouldn't call me that,” Vaako admitted softly, feeling very vulnerable suddenly and cornered by Riddick's warm metallic gaze.

“Why not? It's true,” Riddick murmured, leaning in again and Vaako stiffened further.

“On Helion Prime, the day we met, you called-” Riddick huffed out a breath, a chuckle, and Vaako narrowed his eyes.

“I was talking about you that day.” The feel of the gentle warmth of the breathy words dropped against the skin of his neck, just over his Purification scars, distracted Vaako, the tiny touches causing more shivers he couldn't control. Many things seemed to be moving beyond Vaako's control, and he tried to hold onto his ire, but the feel of Riddick's lips against the column of his throat, up to the sensitive flesh behind his ear made him tilt his head before he realized he was moving. He caught himself, felt Riddick smiling against his skin at the slip, and tried to refocus his anger.

“What do you mean?” The demand came out breathier, less certain, than he'd have liked.

“My eyes were on you behind my goggles when I said it'd been a long time since I smelled beautiful.” Riddick smiled as he backed off and watched the realization dawn in Vaako's eyes. “You'd fucked her. I could smell you on her. Most delicious thing I'd smelled in a very long time.” Vaako blushed, not only at the compliment, but because the man was correct.

“Any time a planet falls -fell- to the Armada, Dame Vaako gets... excited. Usually she took advantage of my own battle lust.” Vaako lowered his head, looked away as he admitted quietly... “Sometimes that was the only time I could perform my... duties... as her husband.” He could feel his whole face flushing as Riddick's body stiffened.

Vaako heard and felt the low growl and he tried to step back, to turn away, ashamed, only to be held fast against Riddick's chest by hands that had become like titanium bands around his upper arms. His face snapped up to look at Riddick's and the rage he saw there made him tense instinctively; face flushed, eyes and jaw both clenched shut, nostrils flared and prominent vein in his forehead bulging.

“Not you,” Riddick gritted out, but Vaako only marginally relaxed as the other man's hands fell away from his arms and clenched into fists at his sides. “This is _for_ you, not _at_ you. Understand? I just... I'm.... ” The man threw his head back and roared out his fury, -Vaako dared not assume the fury was on his behalf, never would he be so presumptuous- veins and muscles in his neck bulging enticingly but still making Vaako step back. He wasn't afraid, just... cautious. The sound of the man's anger cut through him, sliced him neater than any blade until it ended just as suddenly as it had begun. Riddick took deep, quaking breaths, eyes closed, and slowly he got ahold of himself. When he opened his eyes, they instantly settled on Vaako.

“Just... touch me, Vaako,” the man whispered roughly, brows knitted and shined eyes wild and gleaming hot in the low light of the chamber. “Touch me. I'm burning up here. I need to feel your hands on me.” Riddick stepped forward, took Vaako's hands and placed them just beneath the hem of his shirt at his sides where Vaako could feel blistering skin just at the ends of his fingertips. That heat drew him, and he chased it up under the fabric to find more warm flesh and hard muscle, the contrast in temperatures between them stunning; the man was all living fire to Vaako's death cold.

Riddick gasped, and Vaako's eyes lifted from where his hands were moving up beneath black fabric to look into the man's face, into his silvery eyes, and found vulnerability and a need so profound it hit him viscerally, like a physical blow. The drive that had been missing from the man's eyes of late was back, tenfold what Vaako had seen while the man was fighting; life and vitality that Vaako had missed, which he thought ironic, considering what he was and the tenets he served.

“Riddick,” Vaako whispered, at a loss. “I've never been... gentle. Not with this. I don't know what-” Riddick's lips back on his silenced his concerns, the kiss as soft and sweet as the first and Vaako felt his fears succumbing to the almost delicate touch, and he understood then: this, this was gentle, this was tenderness. Vaako gave in to it, allowing his own tongue to sweep along the other man's full lower lip, just to touch, to taste, and when Riddick opened for him on a gasp, to delve inside. Their tongues touched and an almost pained moan escaped Vaako before he melted into the man's body, tongues rolling and stroking languidly.

Vaako had forgotten his hands until the movement beneath them - the expansion and contraction of bone and muscle when Riddick inhaled again - reminded him to _touch,_ and touch he did. Vaako lowered his hands to the waist of Riddick's pants, which were riding low enough on the man's hips that Vaako could feel the groove where hip and torso met, and stroked his cool palms up Riddick's abdomen, reveling in the fine trail of hair that led up to smooth, hard muscle. Trailing his fingertips along skin that was softer than he'd expected, Vaako traced each hill and valley of Riddick's abdominals, then traced his touch along the edge of pectorals and tripped back down Riddick's ribs, one by one. All the while he devoured the man's mouth like he was starved for it, swallowing each gasp and rumbling moan as though they were necessary for life.

At this moment, they were.

Lightheaded, Vaako pulled his mouth away, barely, and the two men stood, foreheads together, lips almost touching, breathing each other's breath as Vaako touched his fill and Riddick clutched at Vaako's shoulders, seemingly just as lost in the play of fingertips over skin as Vaako himself.

Vaako moved his hands back to Riddick's sides, trailing fingertips along the grooves between ribs and finding places that made the man gasp and twitch. Vaako smiled into the next kiss, unable to resist his next impulse; it had never occurred to him that this man, this murderer, this escaped convict, could be ticklish. Still smiling -and now Riddick was smiling as well, making for less of a kiss, more smiling mouths pressed together- Vaako pressed a little harder in one of those twitching spots and Riddick twisted away from him suddenly, gracefully, laughing.

“You found me out,” Riddick chuckled. Vaako was stunned, he'd never seen or heard the man like this before. Judging by the look on his own face, Riddick was coming to the same realization. He came back to Vaako, still smiling until he growled and tore at Vaako's clothing, muttering about 'too much cloth, not enough skin' as he stripped them both and pulled Vaako across the room, into his sleeping chamber and to his large bed, tumbling them down onto it.

Necroism had never truly been enough, no matter what Vaako had convinced himself in the past. There had always been something... missing. He realized now as he stared into the glowing mercurial depths of Riddick's eyes as he situated himself over Vaako and stroked his face softly -reverting back to slow and gentle after having torn at their clothing and rushed them to the bed-, that what he'd been missing had been life, passion.

Not the painful, violent passion of battle or sex with his wife. No this was a cleaner passion, more pure. No agony, no savagery, which left room for a joyous pleasure that stole Vaako's breath, kept stealing it, until he was lightheaded -light all over- with the feeling. If what he'd had with Yzma was a flame, what he was now experiencing with Riddick was a supernova; all consuming, powerful, vast and irresistible. Riddick's skin was hot against Vaako's all over, which was infinitely better than than the last time they'd been naked and skin to skin like this; cold water, cold tile, cold skin. No, this was all warmth and desire and simmering intensity.

“My turn to touch.” Riddick rolled them so that Vaako was on top, bodies aligned, legs entwined with Riddick's and bodies pressed tight together, interlocked. Warm, rough hands explored Vaako's back slowly, and the roughness on his skin made him tremble. “So smooth, soft. Strong though. So strong. Feel so good under my hands, Vaako.” Riddick kneaded muscle and sinew with a reverence of touch that Vaako hadn't thought the man capable of. He trailed his hands down to Vaako's hips and pulled, grinding their hard cocks together and making sparks light in Vaako's blood and making them both gasp; gasps that were swallowed in another devouring kiss as tongues and bodies twined together sinuously, sensually.

Vaako realized the problem with being on top right away; he needed his hands to leverage himself up so Riddick could touch him and so he could watch the pleasure play across the man's features. He just had to use something else to touch then, didn't he? Vaako broke the kiss with a hiss and shifted himself down to kiss and nip at Riddick's jaw, then his throat, licki-

Riddick's hands gripped his skin hard and a growl vibrated against Vaako's tongue. He realized instantly that it wasn't a sound of pleasure, but danger. He looked up sharply and found Riddick staring hard with threat-narrowed eyes. It took a moment for Vaako to understand; he was asking an animal to bare his throat.

Vaako said nothing, did nothing, just waited, pleading with his eyes for Riddick to trust him in this. It was a struggle, Vaako could see it. The man had trusted and been betrayed; not often, but enough to make him hesitate. Vaako stayed steady, patient, waiting.

It felt like a small eternity before the man's eyes softened, the growl tapered off. Deep breath, which made Vaako rise and fall where he now lay fully against Riddick's chest.

Riddick tipped his head back slightly and to the side, holding Vaako's steady gaze as he lowered his mouth to the thrumming of Riddick's exposed pulse, understanding what it meant, what a gift it was. Vaako closed his eyes as he kissed the skin of Riddick's throat in veneration, acknowledgment, then flickered his tongue out to taste. Salt, musk, and something that was almost smoky that must have been Riddick's own flavor.

A rumble started in Riddick's chest, and at first Vaako thought it was another growl, but when he glanced up, the look on his face was content and Vaako realized the man was _purring._ Not just the purr-like growl he'd heard before. This was different. It was deep and the vibration was a tingle along Vaako's skin that made his entire body light up with electricity.

He nibbled down to Riddick's muscled chest, licking and kissing his way to each copper nipple, sucking the skin around it, figuring that the flesh might be just as sensitive on Riddick as it was on his own body. Vaako was correct, and the man arched against him as he flickered his tongue over each tight bud, nipping with his teeth, dragging them with just enough pressure to make the flesh both between and around his teeth pebble and make Riddick moan long and low. Vaako felt a heady rush of powerful pleasure as Riddick writhed beneath him, muscles bunching and shifting against Vaako's own body, reminding him of the strength that lay trammeled in the man that was currently at his mercy.

Riddick was as beautiful like this as he was when he fought, more so even. The way he moved, all lithe, animal grace, and the sounds he made sent Vaako's heart to pounding against his ribs as he trailed kisses and licks slowly down Riddick's twisting body. He was going on instinct, and thinking of what he himself enjoyed when Dame Vaako had deigned to think of his pleasure instead of just her own -usually when she wanted something or was trying to manipulate him to get her way. The way she-

Vaako pushed thoughts of her violently out of his mind and sat up, settling himself back on his heels between Riddick's spread legs and stroked gentle fingertips up the insides of the man's thighs, feeling the soft hairs there prickle against his skin. Letting the contact bring him back to the here and now with this man and all that glorious skin, all that flesh spread out before him like a feast. He could still scarcely believe he was here, but the Lord Marshal, no Riddick, had made his choice, and Vaako couldn't be happier for it. Perhaps they were destined to collide.

“I don't know where to begin,” Vaako mused as Riddick bent one arm beneath his head, supporting his neck so he could watch Vaako with darkened, steely eyes. Vaako watched those eyes darken even further the closer his fingertips got to the juncture of thigh and torso and the heavy sac and thick, dark cock that jutted proudly toward the man's abdomen. Vaako's pale hands looked ghostly against Riddick's ruddy skin in the low light, practically leaving tracers in his vision.

“So exquisite,” Vaako murmured in awe. He leaned down, holding Riddick's heated gaze as he extended his tongue and swiped it up the underside of that rigid cock, tasting the same salt and musk only thicker on his palate. Riddick gasped, shuddered, eyelids falling closed and kiss-plumped lower lip disappearing between teeth; a reaction that was mirrored within Vaako as he tasted the salty bead of pre-fluid that bathed his tongue as he reached the slit of Riddick's cock. He'd never tasted a man before, never even tasted his own essence, and the carnality of it was intense enough to make a shudder roll through his whole body, starting with is jaw and working down to his toes.

“Vaako,” Riddick murmured the name, accentuating each letter as they tripped off his tongue, “flip around. Been dying to taste you, too.” Vaako's eyes widened as he worked out what Riddick wanted, but the thought of Riddick's mouth on him while he had the man in his own mouth was irresistible. He sat up and turned, straddling Riddick's chest and then inching his way back, Riddick's hands on his hips and thighs guiding him, until his knees bracketed the man's head and he was once more face to face with Riddick's hard cock.

Rough hands, course against his humming skin, moved up the insides of his thighs and around the front of his hips, clutching, pulling down in such a way that Vaako spread his thighs wider, lowering himself until he felt the heat of Riddick's breath on his own aching cock. A cooler rush and the feel of his lower half rising as Riddick inhaled his scent, moving his nose and lips slowly over Vaako's erection, up to the heavy sac and back down to the crown -reversed as the directions were, it almost made Vaako dizzy. A moment of cool air before Vaako's cock was engulfed in the hot, wet cavern of Riddick's mouth. He gaped at the feeling, breath catching in his throat and making his gasp turn to more of a guttural moan as he could feel his cock leaking. The sound, or maybe the taste, made Riddick's hips flex, reminding Vaako that he had his own tasting to do.

 

 

 

Riddick was surrounded by Vaako's cool, heady scent as he brought the man's cock between his lips and took him into his mouth. The deep moan against his cock hit him as he registered the salty-sweet taste of the man's fluid, before swallowing the thing down, the combination making his hips flex automatically. Then his own cock was swallowed in a wet heat so exquisite, so extraordinary, he himself gasped and groaned around Vaako's cock, the vibrations in turn making the other man moan... on and on it went. A cycle of pleasure Riddick was more than happy to lose himself in.

They found a rhythm, pleasuring each other slowly, basking in the sensuality of the act and each reaction received. Riddick savored the heat, the weight of the man atop him, the connection between them, neither man in any hurry as they brought each other indescribable pleasure with mouths and hands. The physical sensations were beyond anything Riddick had ever known. The pleasure was like a living thing, singing through his blood, swimming in his balls and crackling like electricity along his spine as the man's mouth and tongue moved over and along his rigid shaft, dipping and sawing at the slit, laving around the crown.

As Riddick picked up his own pace, sucking hard and swiping his tongue along the ridge of Vaako's crown, he felt the man's hips twitch under his hands. Vaako was holding himself back from thrusting, but Riddick wanted him to let go, to lose himself to the pleasure like he had in the shower all those days ago. Wanted to taste Vaako's essence as it exploded across his tongue, taste him from the source like he'd wanted to then.

Riddick groaned at the thought and reached his arms around the man's hips, flexed his fingers into Vaako's ass cheeks, pulling them apart a little and making his spine arch and his hips twitch harder. Not good enough. Riddick moved his fingertips up to the man's sacrum, then trailed them down along the line of his cleft slowly, giving Vaako the time to accept or reject what was coming, before ghosting fingertips over the man's tightly puckered hole and hollowing his cheeks.

Vaako released Riddick's cock on a explosive cry, hips thrusting down, pushing his cock into Riddick's throat. _That's_ what he wanted. Riddick repeated the motion around Vaako's hole, creating a rhythm against the entrance to his body and making him thrust harder, fucking down into Riddick's throat and Riddick opened and swallowed, welcoming it. _“That's it, beautiful,”_ he thought, _“give it to me.”_

The body blanketing his own shuddered and trembled as his hips punched down. It only took a few more thrusts before Riddick felt the cock in his mouth engorge further, felt Vaako's body tense and hips stutter and his balls tighten above his face as they emptied into Riddick's mouth, down his throat. The taste of him, the feel of Vaako's muscles clenching -glutes bunching, thigh muscles quivering, abs contracting-, the gasping, breathless cries of pleasure from the man on top of him damn near made Riddick come, untouched.

As Vaako relaxed, melted, resting his face on Riddick's thigh to catch his breath, Riddick licked him clean and nudged his hip. With a grunt and a last, almost lamenting lick to Riddick's still-engorged cock the man turned, laying along Riddick's side, body still heaving and twitching, warm and sated.

“That's the second time you've brought me pleasure without reciprocation,” Vaako said quietly, severely, leaning up on his elbow to look down at Riddick with brows drawn. Riddick smiled softly. He felt soft, which was foreign, but he decided to go with it.

“Bringing you pleasure is its own pleasure for me,” he said quietly, leaning up to kiss the other man's collar bone. “What do you want, Vaako?” Riddick asked as he traced his nose along the angle of Vaako's jaw, making the man tilt his head ever so slightly to the side, causing Riddick's lips to to brush the skin of his neck right above his Purification scars. “Tell me, beautiful.” The words were hot and Vaako obviously couldn't focus through the trembling they brought forth in him. He was so responsive. Riddick couldn't help playing with him.

“I want...” he began but gasped instead as Riddick nipped Vaako's throat causing his hips to twitch against Riddick's body, skin still hot and damp causing a delicious drag as it moved against his own.

“Tell me,” Riddick purred again, and Vaako let out a frustrated growl of his own.

“You're very distracting,” he murmured. Riddick smiled against the skin of his throat as the man started again. “I want... you,” he got out finally and Riddick stilled, body lighting up even more as he registered the words even as Vaako continued quietly, nuzzling his temple. “I want to feel you come. I want to watch you come, like you watched me.” Riddick groaned and moved his head back to look Vaako in the eye. Vaako started to drop his gaze away but Riddick reached up to cup his cheek and he raised his dark eyes, held Riddick's gaze, and continued. “I want to watch you be... _alive_. I've never known anyone with as much life as you,” his lips curved gently into a rueful smile, “I envy it, in a way, and I want to watch it in you.”

Riddick didn't know what to say to that.

So he pulled the man's lips to his own, kissing him instead and rolling Vaako beneath his bigger body, pressing him down into the soft bed. He lost track of time then, as he made love to Vaako's mouth with his tongue and thrust gently against the man's hard body.

Vaako's cock had hardened again, and Riddick had yet to get off himself, but still they were in no hurry as they stroked and caressed each other's skin. Slow enough to feel the pull of skin and muscle, the dizzying stretch along bodies unused to such intimacy. Tremors passed from one body to another and back and they fed off it, palms drifting over the shifting planes even as mouths still devoured, stoking their passion from flame to inferno.

Riddick pulled back and looked down into the man's hot, lost, coal-dark eyes, taking in his swollen lips and the flush of arousal that tinted his ashen skin. He was so much warmer now than Riddick had ever felt him, and he had the undeniable urge to feel how warm he was inside. He stroked down Vaako's face with his fingertips, about to say as much when Vaako spoke first.

“Riddick,” the man moaned his name, making Riddick's skin rise in bumps at the timbre of it, “Riddick, I-I want you... I want to feel you... inside,” Vaako sighed the word quietly. Riddick shuddered, but he had to be sure...

“Inside?” he whispered the question against Vaako's lips, not wanting to break all contact.

“Inside... me.” Both men shivered, vibrating at the thought. Goddamn but that sounded amazing.

“I want that, too,” Riddick rumbled, stroking Vaako's temples, his cheekbones, searching his eyes. He saw some trepidation, nerves, no fear. Mostly he saw heat, desire. Fire. Life, ironically. “I want that very, very much.” He leaned down slowly, taking Vaako's mouth softly, lips sliding together, tongues twining again until Vaako melted, boneless, below Riddick, pliant and soft beneath him. Only, him, Riddick, suspected.

“Turn over, beautiful.” Vaako made a small sound of protest, and Riddick understood his qualm, chuckling softly against the other man's mouth. “You'll get to watch me come undone, I promise. I want to taste you first...” Riddick's fingertips slipped into the heat between Vaako's thighs, lower along his taint to the tight ring of muscle at his entrance, “...here.”

Vaako's eyes went wide and he gasped, words and touch forcing his entire body to arch up against Riddick, hard and hot and Riddick groaned. So responsive!

After relaxing from his initial reaction, Vaako rolled languidly onto his belly, fists resting beside his head as he clutched at the soft blanket below him. The muscles of his back and shoulders twitched in what Riddick hoped was anticipation and Riddick was mesmerized by the play of the muscle beneath the pale skin. He traced fingertips along the groove of Vaako's spine, watching the muscles along his back bunch and and twitch, down to the arrow of his sacrum and beyond, tracing one lone fingertip down along his cleft and ghosting over the treasure buried deep inside. Vaako's body twitched hard, and Riddick groaned again before rising to straddle the man's thighs.

Planting his hands on either side of the man's shoulders, bowing over Vaako's lusciously strong body to kiss between his shoulder blades and inhaling deep -which sent Vaako twitching again, gasping softly, writhing- he placed a soft kiss to every bump of vertebra as he traveled down Vaako's spine. As he reached the man's tightly muscled ass and spread his cheeks apart he inhaled again, breathing the man's cool musk into his lungs, opening his eyes in time to watch as Vaako buried his face into the blankets to quiet his moaning. Riddick wasn't having that.

“Don't you hide from me beautiful, let me hear you,” he murmured against the flesh of Vaako's ass, letting his breath skate down the cleft as he lowered his mouth closer and closer to his goal. “I want to hear how good it feels, how good I make you feel.” His tongue traced from balls to tailbone, barely ghosting over Vaako's tight pucker and making him gasp and cry out, making his hips arch. Riddick took a ridiculous amount of pleasure from hearing his name cried out in pleasure.

_“_ That's it. So good, Vaako. Let me hear you.” Riddick laved his tongue more firmly over Vaako's hole, making him cry out in a hoarse shout. “Sound so good, beautiful. Taste so good.” Riddick took his time with this, as he had with everything else, lapping and laving at Vaako's flesh and quivering hole, feeling it relax beneath his ministrations even as the other man's body flexed and tensed, pushing his hips back against Riddick's mouth.

Riddick ground his own aching cock into the bedding beneath him as he penetrated Vaako slowly, gently with his tongue, absorbing every moan and cry, imprinting the sounds and the taste of this man on his very psyche. Riddick almost lost it and came when he stiffened his tongue and drove it into Vaako's ass, the scream Vaako let go went straight to Riddick's tortured balls and making his own asshole clench.

Unbidden, the image of Vaako's long, hot cock sliding in and out of Riddick's own body sprung to mind and he moaned against his lover's flesh, his cock leaking at the idea. Riddick had never wanted to be on the receiving end before, had never even considered allowing anyone that close, but he wanted it now. With this man. Would have it, he decided, later, but for now he had to stop or he'd break his promise to Vaako and come before the man could watch him.

With one last lick he pulled away, watching Vaako's heaving back for a moment to calm himself down until the man looked at him over his shoulder with eyes so sultry they felt like a Crematoria sunrise on his skin. He leaned over to the night table and retrieved the vial he'd found there when he'd first explored the chamber; a slick, lightly scented oil of some sort, obviously intended for sexual use, given it's location.

“Sit up, come here,” he motioned for Vaako to follow him as he moved up the bed until Riddick was leaning against the headboard supported by pillows. Vaako's lids drooped and his mouth dropped open on a gasp when he realized what Riddick wanted. “That's it, come here. I want you to ride me.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next is the last chapter, and more whole lotta man lovin, and Dame Vaako gets what she's got coming to her.


	5. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> more mansexiness, Dame Vaako gets her comeuppance, and we get a HEA... til the next one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> same deal, if you didn't come from the last chapter directly maybe backtrack for context. Also toward the end you'll see a familiar name, as the Commissioner of this is also a Zelda fan I tossed it in just for her LOL

Riddick reached out, wrapping Vaako in his arms and pulling him over his groin, astride him, and to his chest, and Vaako couldn't contain the gasp at being manhandled so. It didn't stop him from taking the man's mouth as he got situated over his lap; he was shocked to taste what had to be his own musk on the other man's tongue as it swept into his mouth. The eroticism of tasting himself in Riddick's mouth was dizzying and he thrust his tongue in deeper, hungry for every bit of the flavor he could.

Groaning, Riddick's burning erection twitched against the fleshy part of Vaako's left buttock. Vaako took Riddick's wrists in each hand and placed the man's rough palms at his hips then boldly rocked them so that Riddick's cock brushed along his cleft and over his spit-slick hole.

“Vaako,” Riddick moaned, “ _mmm_ , Vaako.” Vaako pulled back enough to look Riddick in the eye and what he found there knocked his breath from his lungs more than any of their previous kisses, any of their touches or words.

It was more than passion, more than the heat of lust. Vaako had seen nothing like it ever aimed at him, but he'd seen something close before, on a planet much like Helion Prime, where the inhabitants chose to die rather than convert. His eyes had snagged on a pair of women huddled together -lovers, he deduced later- face to face, unable or unwilling to look anywhere but each other as their condemnation was declared, as though their world was not about to implode around them. He remembered a vague pang of jealousy that he thought ridiculous at the time; he'd never had need of such weakness.

What he saw now in Riddick's eyes was remarkably similar, and he needed it badly, and it didn't feel weak at all; rather quite the opposite.

Vaako swallowed hard as he picked up the vial of oil from beside Riddick's hip on the bed and poured some on his own hand, then reached behind him to press his slicked hand along Riddick's cock as it slid between the globes of his own ass. It was tantalizing, feeling without sight, only watching Riddick's reaction -the way his body twitched, mouth fell open and lids fell closed- only amplified that sensuality for Vaako.

“Killing me, Vaako,” Riddick growled, and Vaako agreed, though the erotic torture was something he was loath to end. He wanted something else more, though.   
He looked into the other man's metallic eyes, trying to convey... something, perhaps that same something he'd seen in Riddick's eyes before. Riddick nodded and kissed him softly again as Vaako rose onto his knees, positioned himself and descended slowly onto the man's cock. The feeling of the broad head spreading him open as Riddick's slick, velvet hardness sank into him, feeling every scalding inch as it breached his body... It burned, so hot when Vaako was always so cold. It filled him, replete when he was usually so empty.

Eyes closed tight, Vaako struggled to breathe, clutching at Riddick's face and resting his forehead against that of the man under him as he was stretched and filled. He registered Riddick's own gasps and groans as it went on and on and on, breath puffing against Vaako's lips, until finally Vaako was seated in Riddick's lap, both men heaving for breath and shaking out of their skin. Riddick's cock was so deep, Riddick himself so pervasive and all encompassing within Vaako's body, his very _soul_ -assuming he had one still-...

“ _Oh,_ ” Vaako gasped at the feeling and he ground his hips down just to get Riddick that much deeper. That pleasure-pain burn was so much better than Vaako had anticipated. _“Oh!”_

“So tight. So hot inside. Burning me up so good, Vaako,” Riddick murmured against his lips. Riddick's hands moved up and down Vaako's back almost ardently as he caught his breath and suckled at Vaako's pulse, tracing his tongue up the man's throat and jaw, then went back to plundering Vaako's mouth, breath be damned. Vaako's hips began to rock, he couldn't _not_ move anymore, and he slid his tongue between Riddick's lips in the same slow rhythm that was moving the man's cock inside his body. They were connected, one. One breath, one body, one circuit of terrible pleasure.

Riddick flexed his hips up as Vaako moved, and the head of his cock brushed over something deep inside him that made Vaako's breath catch and his body arch, eyes opened wide as his rhythm stuttered.

“ _Oh yeah_ , there's the sweet spot,” Riddick purred against Vaako's throat as he thrust again, brushing that spot and making white hot pleasure shoot out through Vaako's limbs. “Don't... _hnn-_ ” Riddick moaned again and his hips flexed hard, “don't come, Vaako. Don't come yet.”

It took Vaako a moment to understand the words, especially since their hips kept moving, barely, but it was more than enough to move over that profound 'sweet spot' within him. Vaako felt his brows draw together in confusion, even as he watched Riddick's brows draw together in ecstasy.

“ _Mmm_ you heard me. Don't come. Not _ngh_ yet _._ ” Riddick kept thrusting, kept hitting that place and making it hard for Vaako to think.

“ _Ahh_ Riddick I-”

“Watch, Vaako, like... _mm_ like you wanted. I want you to see... _ahh..._ what you do to me, and then...” Riddick's words were ground out between clenched teeth as his hands clutched at Vaako's hips, vise tight, moving him over Riddick's cock as he thrust, faster and faster, “then I want you to. _..mngh..._ want to feel you come... c-come apart... inside me. Want you... to come inside _mmm_ e. _AH_!”

Vaako almost froze from the shock. The thought of him... doing _that_ to his _Lord Marshal..._ it was unthinkable. The picture Riddick's words created in Vaako's mind -himself bowed over the other man as he thrust his own cock deep inside Riddick's big, hard body- forced a guttural cry from him, forced his hips to thrust unconsciously -slapping his engorged, weeping cock against Riddick's abdomen-, forced his body to quiver and clench inside, and the only thing that kept him from climaxing was focusing on Riddick coming undone beneath him, and come undone he did.

The helpless way his body moved, tensing and flexing, the open ecstasy that flooded his expression, hearing his sounds -hard groans and lost moans that sent shivers through Vaako's body-, feeling the cock expand and erupt inside him, filling him with fiery essence, feeling the _life_ in him, from him. Vaako shuddered. Hard. Had to grab the base of his own cock because the _pulsing_ inside him almost threw him into his own climax anyway with Riddick's cock still throbbing inside him even as the man himself relaxed, boneless and sweating and sated.

“Riddick,” Vaako murmured, kissing the man slowly, deeply, breathlessly, bringing him back down and bringing Vaako back from the brink. This kiss felt different than any other; more intimate and conversant. Riddick shifted, and his softening cock slid from Vaako's hole. He immediately mourned the loss, feeling so empty now without the man inside him. The sound Vaako made must have conveyed as much, because without breaking their kiss, Riddick's fingers were suddenly there, pushing into him through the wetness of his own spend inside Vaako's body. Each man swallowed the other's long, guttural moan.

“I love feeling you like this,” Riddick murmured along Vaako's jaw. “Still so open and hot inside. So wet.” As if to emphasize his point, he moved two of his fingers inside Vaako's body and they slid in and out of him effortlessly with an obscene _shlup_ , making Vaako shiver and clench inside.

Suddenly the fingers were gone, and Vaako had no time to mourn the emptiness a second time, could hardly believe his eyes as Riddick brought the two fingers that had been inside Vaako's body -glistening with his own fluid- to his mouth and sucked them clean with the filthiest sound Vaako had heard from the man yet -something between a moan and an animal growl. Vaako's reaction to the sight and sound was even more startling; a violent, erotic shiver and without thinking he dove in to capture the man's lush mouth, tasting the bitter salt of Riddick's essence on his tongue and needing more. _More._

Long minutes passed, Riddick tracing his fingertips back through the wetness dripping from Vaako's entrance and licking them clean as Vaako kissed the taste from his mouth until only the barest traces were left and both men were hard and grinding against one another once more. Vaako pulled back, -up, having unconsciously followed Riddick as he moved his way down the headboard until he was flat on his back among the pillows, with Vaako laying along Riddick's side, one leg between Riddick's own- looking over the man under him and damn near losing his composure at the sight of him; sweat damp, flushed and needing. Open. Almost desperate.

“Vaako, _Vaako_ ,” Riddick moaned, eyes bright and wanton and pleading in a way Vaako had never seen before. He was captivated, not realizing what Riddick was doing at first as he felt the man take his hand and pull it down to his parted thighs, using his own fingers to guide Vaako's to his taint and then further. “Vaako, please. I need it, need you.” Once the realization hit him, he blushed, feeling suddenly out of his depth.

He'd almost forgotten Riddick's demand from earlier, that Vaako take him, come inside him. His shock returned, chilling all the heated places inside him, having never expected Riddick, dominant as he was even without his title, to allow such a thing. How could he even consider it? Vaako's breath hitched as panic rose in him. How could he... why... he could never... Vaako tried to jerk back, away, but Riddick held the back of his neck, held their foreheads together.

“Breathe, Vaako,” shined silver eyes still wanton with heat held Vaako's and he did as he was told, drawing in deeper breaths. “It's okay, Vaako. I want it. Want you. Need you,” he whispered his words against Vaako's lips, warm breath ghosting over his lips and chin. “Things need to be equal between us. Please, don't make me beg.” Vaako did pull back then, more appalled at such a notion than he was at what was being asked of him. Equal? He stared into shined eyes, looking for jest, looking for obligation or anything that would make his words a forced lie. Vaako found only sincerity, heat. He would never make this man beg for anything if he could help it. He swallowed his nerves.

“Show me, Riddick,” Vaako whispered against Riddick's lips, “show me how to... how to open you, how yo prepare you.” Riddick nodded, brushing Vaako's lips with his own in barely there phantom kisses. Vaako felt something tap his shoulder and looked down to find Riddick holding out the vial of lubricant oil that Vaako had used to slick Riddick's cock before taking him into his body. Of course.

He sat up and took the vial with one hand, leaving the other where Riddick had guided it -still held it- between his thighs, and opened it with his teeth then watched Riddick's expression as he dribbled the stuff over the man's cock. He watched Riddick's eyes go wide then heavy lidded as the drips of slick oil traveled down over his sac, then further down along his taint to where their fingers still rested.

Vaako kept pouring a thin stream as he began working the oil into Riddick's skin, moving his own fingertips and Riddick's through it, slicking their digits and Riddick's taint before tossing the oil aside, not caring where it ended up or the mess it would inevitably make. Riddick then spread his thighs wider and pressed their slicked fingers lower, to his tight pucker, maintaining feverish eye contact all the while.

“Guide me,” Vaako leaned down and whispered into the man's open, panting mouth, “show me how to touch you, how... to take you.” Vaako kissed him hard as he felt Riddick move their fingertips in slow, gentle circles around his entrance.

“Like this,” he said breathlessly. “Slow circles, like I did to you with my tongue.” Vaako gasped, feeling his entrance clench at the memory of Riddick's mouth making love to him before. He kept up the gentle touches, watching Riddick's face and feeling the ring of muscle around his entrance gradually relaxing. All the while their hands slid together in a sensual glide that only added to the intimacy and intensity of the moment, adding another layer of tactile stimulation.

Both men moaned when Riddick increased the pressure of their fingertips, dipping his and Vaako's middle fingers inside his hole to the first knuckle.

“Riddick,” Vaako breathed against the man's jaw as his neck arched at the gentle invasion. Vaako licked and nibbled at the tight muscles as they strained.

“That's it Vaako, so good.” Riddick's voice was rough with desire. He pressed their fingers deeper. “Now move, in and out, stay slow.” Vaako complied, pressing them in deeper before pulling their fingers almost all the way out, then pushing in again, going deeper each time. He wondered...

“ _Ahhh_!” Riddick arched, eyes wide, body going taut as Vaako moved their fingertips just so and found the place inside Riddick's body that Riddick had found in Vaako's own, what he'd called the 'sweet spot'. “Oh god, Vaako, please, please. I need you inside me, now. Now!” Riddick pleaded, voice rumbling and harsh.

“Are you sure?” Another brush over the bump inside and the muscles around their fingers relaxed further even as Riddick's body arched again.

“I'm sure! I'm ready, I need to feel you over me, inside me. Please, Vaako, please.” Begging did not suit the man, and so Vaako moved between his legs as he lifted them. “Like this, I want to watch you take me.” Vaako got Riddick's legs situated high around his waist as he moved into position, balancing on one arm as he leaned over Riddick and used his other hand to slick his cock and press it against Riddick's still-tight entrance.

“You're still so tight.”

“I want to feel you, Vaako. The burn, the stretch. I want it.” Vaako nodded, understanding as his own memories of that delicious pleasure-pain washed over him. Holding the man's molten, mercurial gaze, Vaako began to press forward, gently pushing against the guardian ring of muscle, unsure of the fit and about to back away... until suddenly it relaxed and the head of his cock slipped inside on a gasp. The clenching heat that enclosed the head of Vaako's cock was unlike anything he'd ever known; he had to stop, catch his breath, even as Riddick's hips quivered.

Slowly, _so so slowly,_ Vaako advanced until their hips met and he was completely enfolded.

The pressure, the heat, the feeling of being surrounded, _inside_ , Riddick's tight, blistering hot body, was enough to have Vaako trembling, barely able to hold himself up. He felt a hand to the side of his face, and he turned into it, kissing the palm and letting that hand guide him down to lay against Riddick's body, to rest on his elbows beside the man's head as Riddick claimed his mouth in a kiss that was equally blistering.

“Vaako,” Riddick murmured against his lips, shared, shuddering breaths coming in tandem, “ _oh_ goddamn Vaako. So full, so... so fucking _perfect_.” Vaako felt it, too.

“Riddick,” he moaned, “Riddick, I have to-

“ _Move_.” Riddick moaned the word, flexed his lower body as much as he could with Vaako's weight atop him and the angle of his hips as Vaako gasped and pushed forward, just a little deeper, before moving back just as slowly as he'd entered the man. Riddick's walls dragged along his cock as he withdrew, trying to hold him inside and igniting every nerve ending. Vaako reached the very head of his cock, felt his ridge pull against the guardian ring -which made Riddick gasp and tremble harder- before he tightened his hips and just as slowly thrust forward again, just as deliberately unhurried.

Vaako found an effortless rhythm, pulling back and thrusting inside, again and again, keeping the same slow, languid pace even though his body was screaming at him to move _faster, harder, more_. Denying himself was an exercise in exquisite torture, but watching Riddick writhe and moan and come undone beneath him -because of him, but this time because it was _Vaako's_ cock _inside_ him- was its own reward, satisfying enough to hold himself back.

At least until he changed the angle of his thrusts subtly and once again found that 'sweet spot' inside Riddick's body that made him arch and clench around Vaako's cock. After that it was no choice; he couldn't _not_ move faster, he couldn't _not_ drive harder. Riddick begged for him to thrust harder, - _please Vaako, harder-_ , and he succumbed to his body's demands and the the high, pleading note in his lover's voice and the way his hands clutched at Vaako's hips and ass, encouraging more. Sweat dampened and breathing hard, Vaako watched, ravenous, as the man beneath him growled and grunted and cried out, hips rutting up against Vaako's plundering thrusts.

Vaako's eyes wanted to close, but he wouldn't let them, couldn't let them. He couldn't miss this. Riddick's lids were heavy, but through all his writhing ecstasy, neither would he close his own shining eyes. Even when his body became fever hot and vice tight, their gazes stayed locked.

“Vaako, are... are you _...hnnng!”_ Connected as they were, Vaako knew. He leaned down to whisper against the man's mouth, breathing his breaths to answer the unspoken question.

“I am. I'm with you, Riddick. Always with you. Come with me. Come... come with... _Mmme._ ” The man heaved, relieved, letting go, breaths exploding from him as his body convulsed around Vaako's cock, hot spend gushing between their bodies in torrent after torrent. Gods, all that power, all that pleasure. As Riddick's walls clamped down around Vaako's cock, he was drug into his own rapture. Starbursts and heat, cries and uncontrollable movements as his body took his control from him and thrust, thrust, _thrust_ , filling the man beneath him with his essence, feeling it coat Riddick's inner walls and causing the man to cry out and clamp down again. Vaako's world washed away in white waves of pleasure that went on and on and on and he felt Purified all over again.

 

 

 

Sometime later, -Riddick didn't know how long, and neither man cared- they lay exhausted, sated, silent, wrapped in each other's arms, still sticky and sweaty but content. Riddick was sore, his ass, his muscles. He didn't care about any of that either, and he doubted Vaako did either, though Riddick had made sure he hadn't truly hurt the man, and vice versa.

An idea had been rolling around in his brain, had popped up many days ago when he'd still been in denial about the man that now lay in his arms and what he was to Riddick. The man that he'd been inside and had been inside him as no other had or would. He'd doubted, denied before, but now...

“First Among Commanders could also be First Consort, couldn't he?” Riddick's voice was quiet, not wanting to disturb the peaceful quietude of the room. It took Vaako a moment to register the words it seemed, and once he did his head popped up off Riddick's chest. Riddick took in Vaako's widened eyes and shocked expression and for the first time something hit him and made his entire body go cold. “Unless you don't want it? Don't want to-” Vaako chuckled.

“The equality makes sense now,” his dark gaze turned serious. “It's unprecedented, certainly, but it's possible. For the Lord Marshal, anything is possible.” The dread in Riddick's gut unwound at Vaako's quiet words. “The Lord Marshal makes the laws, and if he wants his First Among Commanders as his First Consort, then it shall be done, and...” Vaako met his eyes, expression earnest and solemn but with a spark of... hope, “accepted willingly, and... ardently by his First Among Commanders.” Riddick smiled at the faint color in the man's cheeks as he kissed Vaako again; almost chaste, but fervent nonetheless.

“All we have to do now is find your-” as if summoned by the thought, Riddick heard the door to the great room slam open and a soldier shouting.

“Lord Marshal! Lord Marshal! We have Dame Vaako in custody, sir!”

They dressed quickly, shooting each other heated looks that promised their clothes and light armor would come off again. Later. First they had to deal with Vaako's wife. They arrived in the throne room among a throng of people. Word of the woman's capture had spread quickly among the soldiers and nobility, and they had gathered to see what the new Lord Marshal would do with the traitor.

Dame Vaako was brought forth in shackles by a set of soldiers, and the soldier that had caught her. Riddick summoned him forward, recognizing the man as one of the soldiers he'd sparred recently, and the soldier went to one knee. Riddick rolled his eyes, but caught Vaako's subtle side eye and head shake. He supposed this was a formal, example type of thing. Fine. Riddick and Vaako had already agreed that the kid had earned a new promotion, both for bringing the bitch in and for showing loyalty to his new Lord Marshal. He, too, would be an example of a new system; not just keep what you kill anymore.

“Rise, Captain Hyrule,” Riddick commanded, going for formal authority, and the soldier did so, going to parade rest, eyes wide, possibly because his Lord Marshal remembered him. “Tell me, where did you find the bitch hiding?” Riddick watched Dame Vaako's face pale even further. This ought to be good.

“Lord Marshal! I found her offering sex with the First Among Commander's wife as payment to a transport pilot to smuggle her off the Basilica.” Jaws dropped before the tittering began. Even Riddick's jaw, because never would he have thought the prideful woman low enough to whore her way off the Basilica. Riddick let the moment drag a little longer than necessary, just to watch the bitch's fury at her public humiliation. Vaako cleared his throat again. Alright, alright. Riddick lifted his hand and the crowd immediately went silent once more.

“You've done well, showing dedication and loyalty, and so shall now be titled Lieutenant Hyrule, henceforth.” Stunned, the soldier looked to his First Among Commanders, who nodded, and then bowed to his Lord Marshal. Riddick heard the shocked gasps and murmurs from those gathered, but with the reward out of the way, he only had eyes for Dame Vaako, who's dark complexion was nearly purple with fury and shame.

All her dignity was gone. She was dirty, hair unkempt, clothing -she'd lost her dress and wore only the blacks that went under armor, probably stolen from some soldier's locker- torn and too big. She was a mess, and sounded even more unhinged than she ever had now that all eyes were on her.

“How can you follow this _filth, this breeder_!” On and on she screamed, but no one raised a voice. Breeder or not, the Lord Marshal had proven himself worthy of the title to these soldiers, and where the soldiers placed their faith, the nobility followed, unwilling to move against Lord Marshal Riddick when he had the entire army behind him. Once she'd run out of bluster, she collapsed to the floor, heaving and wild eyed like a cornered, rabid animal.

“What is the punishment for high treason?” Riddick called out to the crowd.

“Death in undue time, Sir!” Came the resounding answer from around the room. Once she realized she'd get no help there, she finally turned to Vaako, all soft pleading and submission. Pathetic.

“My love, my husband, please help me, you have his ear-” Vaako cut her off, and his salacious leer and hot words shocked Riddick, though he didn't let it show.

“I have more than his ear, Yzma.” Vaako grinned, then turned his back on her -missing her incredulous gaping, which Riddick would've found amusing had the situation not been so dire.

“Dame Vaako, renounce your marriage to my First Among Commanders and accept your sentence with dignity!” Instead, she screeched about breeders and Lord Marshals and the fall of the empire and the betrayal of her husband and wouldn't anyone, please champion for her against this man? She found no quarter in the crowd, and Riddick stood. As he came down the from the dais, the soldiers automatically formed a circle around where she stood, turning, desperate.

“Then I'll just have to keep what I kill.” Riddick said quietly. Eyes wide, Yzma turned and ran -straight into a wall of soldiers. With the same shiv Riddick had used to kill her assassin, he stuck.

“Left of the spine, fourth lumbar down. Even you Necro fuckers have an abdominal aorta.” She had tensed and as Riddick pulled away, so too did the soldiers that had held her up until she was lying in an expanding puddle of her own too-dark blood, writhing weakly until she finally went still.

Riddick closed his eyes as he turned to face Vaako, expecting some kind of anger or wrath to greet him from the man, but when he looked up at him on the dais, the only emotion he read in the man's face and eyes was cool relief and it loosed something in Riddick's chest. He joined Vaako there, eye to eye.

“Let it be known!” Riddick called loud enough to be heard through the entire room without taking his eyes from Vaako's soul-wrenching gaze. “From this moment on, First Commander Vaako is also the Lord Marshal's First Consort, only consort, and thus will simply be known as The First.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The sequel, called "The Second" should be forthcoming

**Author's Note:**

> Had to break it into chapters, 45 pages is a long ass story, and I personally don't have that kind of attention span LOL Also I'm always down for feedback, pos and neg as long as it's constructive crit not just people being assholes. Lemme know what you think of my characterization


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